When Fate Takes a Turn
by Syluk
Summary: After finding out about both his burden and his heritage on the night of Mizuki's betrayal, Naruto decides to flip his world upside down and take fate into his own hands. For the other members of Team Seven, he becomes the rock and foundation they need, and in return, he gains the family he's always yearned for. (AU, Team 7-centric, Seal Master Naruto) SLOW UPDATES
1. Birth of the Seal Master

A few sentences of what you can expect from this story:  
* This is AU, so any changes in history, characters' past, events, characters' choices and everything else are a fair game.  
* Naruto is not an idiot and inherited more traits from his father than his mother (I tried to show his character in this chapter, together with the whole story's premise).  
* This is Team 7 friendship story, and it's team 7-centric.  
* No bashing.  
* I don't really ship anyone in Naruto, but this story will probably end up with Naruto/Karin. Yet, this is not romance oriented story! Also, I simply don't like smut/lemons (neither read nor write), so if any kind of romance will be present it will be light and fluffy more than anything else.  
* **Updates will be slow, painfully so.** Please, be patient.

This story was inspired by May Wren's 'Naruto: Myoushuu no Fuuin'.

* * *

English is not my first language, **betareading done by** **Beige Eclipse and The Patient One.**

* * *

 **When Fate Takes a Turn**

Chapter 1

 **Birth of the Seal Master**

* * *

Naruto sat on the couch in the Hokage's office, staring blankly at the wall. The truth that Mizuki had blurted just an hour or so before was truly sinking in for him. Even if Iruka-sensei had acknowledged his existence as Uzumaki Naruto, it didn't change the facts.

He was the Kyuubi.

And suddenly, everything became so much clearer. The scornful glares, angry shoves, spiteful spits, and hateful whispers behind his back; the hurtful words like 'demon', 'monster', ' _that_ ' and simply ' _it_ ' made sense. Being treated like he wasn't even human, like his whole existence was a sin, like he didn't deserve to be alive. Mind-numbing understanding of why he'd been scorned and shunned all his life rushed through Naruto's veins like poison. Yet, somehow, this knowledge was liberating, allowing a strange calmness to envelope his soul. He could finally put a reason behind all the suffocating hatred.

He was the Kyuubi.

The demon who'd attacked Konoha and destroyed parts of the village; who'd killed so many people and forced so many families to mourn over their dead.

Naruto didn't know how to feel about any of this.

"Ne, Jiji," Naruto murmured, finally pulling his gaze from the wall to stare at the elderly Hokage.

The Sandaime shifted his gaze down to the boy. Naruto peered at him with those familiar cerulean orbs, but instead of the usual fire, they were filled with intense sadness, seeming so lost and resigned that it made his heart ache. He nodded to the ninja he'd been silently conversing with, a mute order to leave.

The man gave a quick bow. "Hokage-sama," he intoned dryly, shooting a quick glare to the Kyuubi container before disappearing in a shunshin. Naruto curled into himself, lowering his eyes to the floor.

The Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose. Seeing the young blond so subdued and not in his usual exuberant mood, made him want to personally strangle the traitorous teacher for blabbing out the secret. On the other hand, Hiruzen felt a pang of guilt for not telling the boy the truth himself, sparing him from hearing it in such an unfortunate circumstance.

"Ne, Jiji," Naruto spoke again, "am I really the Kyuubi?"

The Sandaime frowned. "No, Naruto, you are not."

"But… Mizuki-sen– Mizuki said that I was the demon fox. And Iruka-sensei didn't really deny it."

"Naruto," the Hokage slowly walked to the boy, "let me show you something."

The blond's head snapped up and he blinked at the old man, his curiosity piqued. "What is it?"

The Sandaime smiled kindly at the boy. "Unzip your jacket, lift up your shirt up and show me your stomach." Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but did as he was told. "Now," Hiruzen continued, "try to accumulate some chakra. It does not matter how much." After a moment, a black spiral enclosed with eight spirals appeared on the boy's exposed skin. The Hokage motioned to that. "That is the seal."

Naruto peeked over his lifted shirt. "A seal?" he echoed, poking at the mark. "I never noticed it before…" The strange symbol slowly vanished when his concentration faded and the gathered chakra returned to his system. "Ah. It disappeared."

"The Yondaime Hokage sealed the Kyuubi within a newborn baby, within you, Naruto. So you are not the demon fox," the Sandaime assured, putting a warm hand on the boy's head, "but you do contain it within your body."

Naruto lowered his shirt again and frowned. "If I'm not the Kyuubi, then… Why does everyone hate me?" he demanded. Tears suddenly pricked the corners of his eyes, but he wiped them away angrily. "Why do they all look at me with those… those cold, hateful glares?"

"People are emotional creatures. They lost their homes, friends, and family members on that night. Their grief blinds them to the fact that you and Kyuubi are two completely different entities," the man softly explained. "They do not know you well enough, and their prejudice drives them. They blame you for something that you had no control over, and treat you as something that you are not. With time, they will come to see you for who you are, just as Iruka did. Give them that time, and they will come around."

Naruto grit his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. It was so much worse to know that in the end, despite not being the Kyuubi himself, his very _existence_ was a cause for the people's malice. "They're stupid," he angrily spat.

Hiruzen heaved a deep sigh, removing his hand from the boy's head. "Yes," he admitted with a heavy heart. "Yes, they are."

Silence filled the room until Naruto broke it with a voice so hushed that the Sandaime had to enhance his hearing in order to make out his words.

"You said that… The Yondaime sealed Kyuubi into me when I was just a newborn. Did… my parents gave me away knowingly? Willingly? Did they abandon me to my life alone? A life as a monster, hated by everyone?" His curled frame shook with a short bitter chuckle. "I can't really imagine the Yondaime going around and stealing babies to perform demon sealing jutsus like that."

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "No! You must listen to me, Naruto!" Grabbing him by the shoulders, Sarutobi asserted, "Your parents loved you very much! Your father's dying wish was for this village to see you as a hero, that's why he sealed the Kyuubi–" The Sandaime suddenly cut himself off, fully aware of what he'd just revealed in a heat of his emotions. Those familiar sky blue eyes stared at him, and he could see when the gears began to whirr under that sunshine yellow mop. He knew that the boy was able to click all the puzzle pieces together.

Naruto's gaze flickered to the previous Hokages' portraits on the wall, zeroing in on the last one, taking in the near-identically colored hair and eyes. His mouth parted in shock as he connected all the dots, realization crashing onto him like an avalanche, making his head spin. "I'm… The Y-Yondaime was my father?" he whispered, looking back at the old man, unconsciously holding his breath as he waited for a reply.

Hiruzen stifled another sigh. He was getting way too old for this, especially if he couldn't even prevent a simple slip-up like this. He couldn't take back the words if he'd wanted to now. The boy was becoming more like his father's dopplegänger with each passing year, and even if he acted like a loudmouthed idiot most of the time, he was far from actually being one. "Yes. Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, was your father."

Naruto gawked at the man; emotions flashing through his eyes so quickly that even Hiruzen couldn't identify each one as it passed. Disbelief, surprise, anger, and awe were among them. After a moment, a huge grin spread across the boy's face. "I have such an awesome dad!" he shouted in delight.

The Sandaime felt a headache building up. "Naruto, you can't go around telling everyone who your father was," he chided softly. "Minato made many enemies during the war. You use your mother's last name for a reason. It's for your own protection."

The boy blinked at him. "My mother's last name?" Suddenly his eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you tell me, Jiji? I asked you a few years back, and you said…" he trailed off, his eyes widening in realization. He jumped to his feet, stepping away from the man's reach, glaring defiantly. "You lied to me! You said you didn't know who my parents were! And… Everyone kept calling me 'demon brat' and 'monster' over and over, so I-I thought–" He bit his lip, before taking a shaky breath. "I thought I didn't have parents at all. That I really was–" He jerked his hand in a helpless motion. "No one's ever told me otherwise…"

Sarutobi felt his heart plummeting to his stomach. He knew that the boy had it rough, but to actually believe that he really was nothing but a demon? Unbelievable. "Naruto–"

"No, Jiji!" The blond shook his head in disbelief. "I wanted… I wished– No, I _needed_ to know at least something about myself! This is my parents we're talking about!" he yelled. "I had the right to know 'ttebayo!" He didn't wait for a reply, he merely spun on his heel, storming out of the office.

Sarutobi rubbed his forehead tiredly, glancing at his chosen successor's photo. Those unnerving cerulean orbs stared back at him in a silent accusation, and the old man heaved a hearty sigh, forcing all air out of his lungs. "Minato, Kushina, it appears that I have once again failed your son…"

* * *

Naruto slowly made his way through Konoha's streets with a thoughtful expression plastered on his usually joyful face. His hands were buried in his pockets as he trained his eyes on the ground.

The blond completely brushed off the glare shot at him by the various Chunin rushing past him. They were on high alert tonight due to what had happened with Mizuki. The whole village was buzzing with ninja like a disturbed beehive, and none were happy with the Academy's newest graduate due to his unprecedented stealing act. Not that it mattered much to him, he was used to this after all.

Night walks through the village were rather relaxing and enjoyable. Naruto actually loved them. There weren't many civilians out after the sun set, and the rest were few and far between. He learned early on in his crappy life to spot drunks and avoid them at all costs. They were the worst kind.

When the four-year-old Jinchuuriki was allowed to leave the orphanage and enter the village for the first time, he wandered the streets and marveled at everything and everyone. Being but just a child, starved of attention and human interactions, he didn't realize the hostility his mere presence raised from Konoha's general population. A rough wake-up call came after several weeks when a group of angry civilians suddenly cornered him, yelling questions and spitting out death threats that his young mind couldn't even begin to comprehend. Then, the first rock was thrown…

Naruto had no idea how the incident would've ended had ANBU operatives not interfered. They made a quick job of subduing the riotous crowd, and one of them ushered him to go back to the orphanage.

That evening was burned into his mind as the most terrifying memory he had, but at the same time, he regarded it as one of his most precious memories. Naruto's lips curled into a small, gentle smile as he recalled that moment.

* * *

 _Naruto was scared and confused. He didn't know why all those people hated him or what they'd even been talking about. The child finally entered his small room in the orphanage and scanned it with a sad gaze._

 _Alone again. He was always alone. As long as Naruto could remember, he was always alone._

 _The four-year-old sighed before turning around to close the door, but was startled by the masked ninja silently standing behind him. Naruto stared at him with wide, curious eyes, countless thoughts chasing each other around in his head. "Um…" the boy started uncertainly, fidgeting under the pressure of the stranger's eyes on his person. It didn't matter that they were hidden behind a white mask. "Will I be punished?"_

 _There was a pregnant pause before the man replied, "No." Naruto visibly relaxed, his tiny frame sagging with relief. "I wanted to be sure that you reached your home safely," the man said. After a soft sigh which probably hadn't been meant to be heard, he quietly added, "I was worried."_

 _The small blond's jaw dropped and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. That was the first time he'd ever heard of someone actually being worried about_ _ **his**_ _safety. This kind of feeling was alien to the young orphan, and his brain went into overload trying, and failing, to figure out how to respond. Naruto was all of a sudden extremely self-conscious and at a complete loss for what to say or do._

 _Movement in his peripheral vision suddenly drew the boy's attention. He glanced to the side and grinned brightly, quickly bouncing to the corner of his small room to scoop something from the floor. Naruto turned back to look at the man, and, upon seeing him still there, smiled even wider._

" _This is Fuwa!" the child exclaimed with delight as he extended his hand, revealing a big brown tarantula with naturally painted red ornaments on his body. The arachnid rested calmly on his wrist. "He's my roommate 'ttebayo!" Naruto felt giddy with excitement. He'd never had an opportunity to introduce someone to a friend. The fact that he was introducing a spider of all things completely flew over the boy's head. Fuwa was his only friend after all._

" _Naruto," the careful undertone in the masked stranger's voice wiped the boy's smile clear off his face, "Where did you find this spider?"_

 _The blond knitted his brows in confusion. "I found him on my bed a few months ago," he explained. Suddenly, he paled, his big frightened eyes snapping up to stare at the masked ninja as he brought his hand with the tarantula close to his chest, quickly covering it from view with his other hand. "I-I know that I'm not supposed to make friends, b-but other kids share their rooms with each other, a-and I'm staying here alone, so I th-thought…" Naruto mumbled with one breath, stuttering occasionally until his ramble trailed off as he noticed the adult stiffened._

" _Who told you that you weren't supposed to make friends?" the_ _ninja_ _urgently questioned._

" _Shizuka-san, Aimi-san, Makoto-san, and Kotone-san…" he named all four of the caretakers of the orphanage. Naruto shrunk into himself when the man let out an angry growl. "I-I'm sorry… I won't try to make friends anymore," he promised, tears stinging the corners of his bright, cerulean eyes. "So please, don't hurt Fuwa! You can punish me! I'm–" His voice hitched in his throat as he saw the_ _ninja_ _lifting his hand._

 _Naruto screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the usual shove, slap, or smack. The caretakers always told him he deserved it, even if he hadn't done anything. Though, they never really hurt him badly, the negative actions caused him to shun any kind of touch or physical interaction. So, when the big warm hand landed on his head, he flinched. He was completely frozen, holding in a breath he'd taken while awaiting his punishment._

 _But the stranger only ruffled his hair gently._

 _Naruto basked in the pleasant sensation of the man's fingers slowly combing through his hair. It was the first time he'd experienced anything like this. He'd often observed adults ruffling and stroking the other kids' heads and wondered how it would feel. It was like a dream come true, the feeling so much better than he'd imagined!_

 _The man crouched down to Naruto's level. "Naruto, you should definitely make friends. I will… speak with your caretakers. They shouldn't spout such nonsense." He grumbled something more under his breath, but Naruto wasn't really listening, choosing instead to stare at the masked stranger with an expression of pure awe. "Now, about that little guy." The man motioned at the tarantula that was apparently content with just resting gently on the kid's arm. "This spider is very dangerous, Naruto. its poison is very lethal and can badly hurt you, even by accident. So, may I take it away?"_

 _The blond's face fell. "But… I don't have anyone else!"_

 _The man seemed to think for a bit. "I'll come to see you whenever I can. Alright?"_

 _Naruto perked up at that, however, he still hesitated. "Promise me you won't hurt him?"_

" _I promise. Fuwa will be safe with me."_

 _The boy couldn't see the adult's face, but he heard the distinctive hint of a smile in his voice. He sighed, reluctantly placing the tarantula onto the stranger's open palm. "Bye, Fuwa. You were the best roommate I ever had!" He looked up at the masked_ _ninja_ _again. "Take care of him, mister."_

" _Maa, you can call me Dog."_

 _Naruto beamed at this._

* * *

Dog-nii, as the small boy had dubbed the ANBU operative, much to the latter's chagrin, was Naruto's first precious person, the first one to show him kindness, and that bond helped the boy hold onto the belief that the world wasn't a completely dark, hateful, and miserable place. Unfortunately, due to his own reckless actions, he hadn't seen Dog-nii in over four years now. If he hadn't been so naïve and trustful of strangers back then, that incident would never have happened, and their bond wouldn't have suffered. Despite it all, Naruto refused to forget him, even if the man didn't want to have anything to do with him ever again.

Ichiraku's Teuchi and Ayame were soon added to the growing list of the young Jinchuuriki's most important people. Their ramen was the best, and they always greeted him with warm smiles!

Weasel-nii, another ANBU ninja who guarded him when he was younger, entered that list when he assisted the blond with his reading and writing issues. The man disappeared soon after Dog did, and Naruto started to think that that was his fault too, even if the Sandaime said otherwise. Nevertheless, Weasel-nii was in and nothing would change that.

Finally, the newest addition – Iruka-sensei!

Naruto frowned.

The Sandaime-jiji was also on his list of precious people. They didn't socialize often, and their meetings were usually kept extremely short, but the old Hokage always smiled so warmly at the boy, and there weren't many people who were willing to show such fondness in his presence. He couldn't just dismiss it, so the Sandaime held his position on that list. Even if Naruto was currently feeling so pissed off at the man!

The Jinchuuriki gritted his teeth, kicking a random small pebble out of his way and grimly observing as it rolled across the street, crashing against a wall. He sighed, turning his head up to looked at the night sky, trying to veer his mind towards more pleasant thoughts.

He was the son of the Yondaime!

A small smile crept back onto his face, but faltered again as he realized that it was his own father who forced the fate of being a demon container upon him. A spark of an anger and bitterness tugged at his heart. The Yondaime had sealed the Kyuubi inside his own son on the very day of his birth!

Naruto paused, creasing his brow in a scowl. Something didn't add up here, but he couldn't quite put a finger on what seemed to be amiss. Was the Kyuubi's attack on his birthday simply a coincidence?

He shook his head, trying to clear it a bit before walking at a slightly quicker pace. He was exhausted both physically and mentally, and all this thinking, speculating, and accusing wasn't gonna help put his mind at ease.

Still…

The boy's mouth stretched into a fox-like grin.

He was the son of the Yondaime, the most kickass ninja in the world!

Pushing all negative thoughts aside, Naruto basked in the warmth that the knowledge brought as he rushed along bare Konoha's streets.

The blond stopped right before his front door when he reached his shabby apartment, hovering uncertainly. His brows were knitted in doubt, his lips thinning as his eyes darkened. He didn't want to go inside. None of what he'd learned changed the fact that his home was still painfully empty. There would be no one waiting for him on the other side of that door to welcome him back. On the contrary, the knowledge only made him feel worse.

An interesting idea came to the young ninja's mind. He lifted his hands into the cross seal, feeling his chakra bending to his will. He grinned slightly and moulded it. A distinctive pop could be heard from the other side of the door.

Naruto waited for a few moments, then unlocked the door and stepped inside. His clone immediately appeared in the narrow hallway with a wide, but strained, smile and exclaimed, "Welcome home!"

The original stared at him.

…It didn't make him happy at all. It backfired remarkably as the loneliness swelled into an aching bottomless void.

Naruto closed the door with a sigh. "I'm so stupid…" he muttered, waving his hand in dismissal.

The grin on the clone's face fell. "Cheer up, boss," he said before promptly vanishing.

The orange-clad ninja snorted. "Yeah, thanks." As he padded into the kitchen to get a glass of water, he pondered if this kind of behavior could be considered one of the first signs of insanity.

* * *

Naruto was staring through the window deep in thought, his eyes not really seeing anything in front of him. He wasn't bouncing around in joy like usual, his eyes were narrowed and his lips were pursed into a thin line. Today the blond wanted to remain unseen and alone, so he didn't wear his usual neon orange clothes, choosing instead to wear simple blue pants, a black t-shirt with a red spiral in front, and his new headband, firmly wrapped around his forehead.

"Naruto."

The boy looked to the old Hokage without a word.

The Sandaime smiled. "Your registration form is acceptable," he informed the boy kindly, glancing at the sheet of paper in his hand. "But you could have at least smiled for the photo."

A small frown appeared on Naruto's face. "I'm not really in the mood. May I go? I have things to do."

"Oh? And where are you going in such a rush?"

"Library," the Jinchuuriki replied simply, his gaze shifting to look through the window yet again. "There are things I need to know about. Things I'd been denied to till now."

Hiruzen sighed. "Naruto–"

"I need to know who I am, Jiji," the blond interrupted, more bitter and tired than angry or spiteful. "I can't go on like this anymore."

They both stared each other down for a moment. Surprisingly, it was the Hokage who looked away first. With a heavy sigh, he stood. "Walk with me, Naruto," he said while shifting out of the room.

Curiosity piqued, the young ninja trailed after him. They silently passed several corridors, then descended the stairs, finally stopping in front of an unremarkable wooden door.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the old man, but the latter suddenly ran his fingers through several hand seals so fast that the blond was unable to identify them all. A strange diagram glowed on the wooden before vanishing.

Hiruzen opened the now unsealed door and motioned for the boy to enter first. Naruto stepped inside and looked around. The entirety of the room, as far as he could see, had rows upon rows of shelves filled to the brims with books and scrolls.

"What is this place?" Naruto asked, respectfully keeping his voice at a low volume.

The Sandaime smiled. "This is the place where the history of Konohagakure, and its people, are preserved for future generations." He took a deep breath and glanced down at the blond. "Naruto, tell me. Do you hate the villagers for treating you like they do?"

The Jinchuuriki's head snapped towards him, confusion crossing his features. "Huh?"

"Or me for not telling you anything till now?" The Hokage scrutinized the boy's expression, noting a pinch between his eyebrows as he was contemplating his answer. Hiruzen didn't push him to reply immediately. His own heart was beating faster and faster as he waited, dreading the answer.

Naruto closed his eyes. The hateful glares and nasty whispers suddenly emerged from his memories, and he snorted. "No, I don't think I hate the villagers. They are so full of that themselves, I'm not gonna stoop to their level," he scoffed and then pinned the old man with eyes that gleamed with such strength and tenacity that the elderly Hokage had to suppress a shudder from unmistakable familiarity. "I don't hate you either, Jiji, but I am very angry."

The Sandaime let the shoulders sag in relief. It could have been much worse than just anger which was reasonable and expected. Although, now he could see that his little Naruto had more of his father's traits in him than he'd initially assumed.

It was not easy to truly anger Minato Namikaze, but when someone managed that, his ire blazed like cold flames, ruthless and unrelenting, hidden under a calm smile and an indifferent gaze. It took a very long time for those flames to fade, if at all possible, and it would be an endless struggle to gain his forgiveness once again. Dealing with Kushina Uzumaki in this regard was much easier. She was quick to anger and, in most cases, quick to forgive and forget.

"Do you hate your father for sealing the Kyuubi within you?"

Naruto blinked. "What? Why would I hate him?" he asked incredulously. "I could never hate my dad. I'm sure he had his reasons." He frowned slightly. "But I was wondering… Was it a coincidence that the Kyuubi attacked Konoha the day I was born? It just seems strange, no matter how I think about it."

Hiruzen's eyebrows shot upwards. He was shocked of such an accurate deduction, especially whilst knowing close to nothing about the subject! He'd clearly underestimated the boy's intellect.

"Maybe it was just coincidence…" Naruto said with a shrug, not noticing the Hokage's eyes suddenly sharpening.

"No," the Sandaime denied, and at that moment he knew that he would tell him everything, put his trust into this child and bet everything on the decision Minato's legacy would reach after being exposed to the truth. "Before I say anything more, I need you to promise me that no word will leave this room. Can you do that for me, Naruto?"

The blond was startled from a sudden tone change, but quickly composed himself and gave one firm nod, "Yes."

Hiruzen started walking with Naruto trailing close after him. "Your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina. She was also known as Red, Hot-Blooded Habañero," he started. "When she was young, she came to Konoha from her home village, Uzushiogakure no Sato, for a purpose." The Hokage paused at one of the shelves, scanned the labels, then faced his companion and continued, "She came here to become the second Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

"Jinchuuriki?"

"That is the name given to those who have Bijuu sealed inside their person."

Naruto scrunched his face like he'd tasted something very sour, and then suddenly froze. All blood drained from his face as he stared at the Sandaime in absolute horror. "If she had Kyuubi inside her, and…" He gulped. "And it attacked the day I was born… Am I– Does that mean it was m-my fault they'd died?"

Again, Sarutobi was taken aback of how fast the boy's mind worked through information and drew conclusions. He absentmindedly wondered what he'd been doing in the Academy to receive such poor grades. "No, Naruto," he assured, putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort the young blond, but the latter shrugged it off immediately.

Naruto grew up greatly disliking other people intruding his personal space. He was completely comfortable and allowed his walls to drop only around a select few, and the elderly Hokage surmised that currently he was not on that list.

"It is true that the seal holding the fox weakens during childbirth, and though I can only speculate at what really occurred during that time, I am certain that there was a third party involved that night. My own wife died by their hands…" he continued, feeling the pain of that loss jabbing at his heart, even after all these years, but he pushed it aside and continued, "I don't know what their purpose was or any further details on their attack as your parents left this world before they could reveal anything, but I am certain that the Kyuubi's attack was a deliberate work of sabotage."

Naruto was looking at him with wide eyes. "By whom?" he whispered out.

"That is currently unknown."

The young ninja's hand unconsciously drifted to rest over his stomach, his features set into a deep scowl.

Hiruzen lifted his hand and pulled out the thick scroll he'd been searching for. "Naruto," he called, drawing the boy's attention. "There are things sealed inside this storage scroll that I believe your parents would like you to inherit. They are mostly books, scrolls, and journals, but there are also some personal items inside."

The blond's eyes widened at the implication of those words. Gingerly, he reached out and brushed his finger along the edge of the scroll with 'The Yondaime' neatly written on the side. All of his longing and wistfulness could be seen in the brief motion.

"The information contained in here could be very dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands," the Sandaime said, watching in amusement at how Naruto snatched his hand away as if it had been burned, then threw an accusing glare his way. Before he could open his mouth to complain, Sarutobi spoke again, "So, you'll have to be extremely vigilant in its protection. I collected these things after the Yondaime and Kushina perished, using his blood to seal it as a security measure. It can be opened only by Minato and his blood kin. This is the key." He pulled out a small piece of paper and gave it to still-stunned Naruto. "Paint this with your blood, inject a bit of chakra, and the seal will unlock. The seal will reactivate itself if you roll the scroll back up. Do you understand me?"

The Jinchuuriki was stuck, frowning at the diagram on the paper. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good," he said, offering the precious item to the boy, who took it with a strange expression of reverence on his whiskered face. Hiruzen smiled. "I'm sure you're more than eager to check the contents of that scroll."

A small upward curve finally graced Naruto's lips as he nodded at the old man's utterance.

* * *

Naruto was sitting with his legs folded beneath him on the floor of his bedroom. He was staring at all of the things perched on his bed with wide eyes, afraid to touch anything, afraid they might puff out of existence upon physical contact. These were the things he'd unsealed from the scroll the old man gave to him. The things that had once belonged to his parents.

With trembling hands, the boy picked up the photo frame he'd been gawking at for the last half hour. As he stared at the photo, realization slowly unfurled in his mind and warmth spread throughout his frame.

Sometimes, on the better days, Naruto had dreamed about having a loving family, about having both a mother and a father who actually cared about him, but he couldn't recall if he'd ever tried to imagine their appearance. Now, he had faces to put on the imaginary figures of his parents. The faces were full of so much love and fondness that it made the young ninja rub his eyes to make sure that he was seeing it right.

His cheeks were wet, and Naruto wondered distractedly when he'd started crying.

The pregnant woman with long, red hair – _his beautiful_ _mother_ – sat on the couch with a gentle smile on her serene face, one of her hands buried in the sunshine yellow mop of the Yondaime – _his amazing father_ – who was kneeling beside her with his ear pressed to her belly, as if listening to something incredible, gazing sideways at it with the most loving expression.

All of that love was directed towards her belly, towards their still unborn baby, towards him.

It hurt. It hurt so much to know that he could have been loved so dearly, but the ability to experience any of it had been cruelly ripped away from him.

Naruto hugged the photo frame tightly to his chest, a choked sob tearing from his throat.

* * *

When Naruto finally calmed down, he created a clone to keep an eye on the items, dragging himself to the bathroom to wash his face. He'd long ago closed the curtains to hide away from prying eyes, well before unsealing his dad's scroll, but it still didn't feel safe to leave it unsupervised.

Naruto returned to his bedroom and blinked at the sight of his clone reading something. "What are you looking at?" he inquired.

"The title caught my eye," the clone replied. "It's about the history of Uzushiogakure no Sato."

"Uzushiogakure?" The original scratched his chin in thought. "I think I heard that name in the history class. Something about being Konoha's ally. It was destroyed if I'm remembering correctly."

"That's right, but that's not what's important about it. Jiji said that mom was from there."

"Oh, right, I remember that." The Jinchuuriki nodded. "Okay. If you find anything interesting, tell me."

"Yes, boss!"

Naruto glanced at his parents' photo once again and put it to the side with a small smile. There weren't many personal items: two items of clothing and a strangely shaped kunai with a pendant tied around it. He picked up the weapon to examine it.

The kunai had three prongs and a thick, long handle. It was slightly larger and much heavier than a standard kunai, and there was some sort of paper seal wrapped around the handle.

The pendant was a spiral in shape, carved from some sort of translucent gemstone*. It gleamed yellow at the center, gradually shifting to orange, and then red, with a bright blue rim surrounding it along the outermost edge. It was a fascinating piece of jewelry indeed!

Naruto admired it for a few more minutes, flipping the pendant over in a narrow ray of sunshine.

The first article of clothing was a small blanket. A baby blanket, the blond recognized. It was orange, his favorite color, with a red spiral in the center. He frowned at it, wondering what significance it held. His parents seemed to use the symbol often.

Suddenly, his fingers brushed over embroidery in the corner. He scrutinized it a bit more closely and couldn't fight a grin at the words he read. _Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze_. It was supposed to be his blanket. Naruto marveled at the scrupulous embroidery, speculating that it was probably his mom's own handiwork.

"Wow."

The clone's voice brought the young Jinchuuriki out of his daze. He glanced at the second him and questioned, "What is it?"

"We had a clan, boss," replied his copy, its nose still buried in the book.

Naruto blinked. "…What?"

"The Uzumaki was a founder clan of Uzushio. It was destroyed together with the village more than twenty years ago. The Uzumaki were both respected and feared throughout the ninja world due to their unmatched prowess in the sealing arts." He paused, extending the book to the original. "You should definitely read it."

Knitting his eyebrows together, Naruto carefully folded the blanket and gently took the book, dispelling the clone and sitting down on the wooden floorboards to read. As he finished the page and flipped it, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd already perused it, though, he was sure he hadn't. His clone had though.

Naruto quickly skimmed through the text, and the further he went, the more surprised he was. Could he actually remember what his clone had read? Did this ability only work on reading? Perhaps he could recall their actions as well.

The young ninja created another clone and sent it to the kitchen to test out this theory. After a moment, he perked up with knowledge that his chair was pushed from one corner to the other and he hummed to himself in contemplation.

"Well, that could come in handy," Naruto murmured, setting the information aside to ponder on a later date. He had a lot of reading to catch up on as it was.

* * *

When Naruto finished the book, to say that he was stunned would have been a severe understatement. It had totally blown his mind.

He actually belonged to a clan on his mother's side. Not just some random unknown clan, but one of the oldest and most powerful clans in ninja history. They were renowned for their Sealing Techniques, which were an esoteric specialty and also very difficult to master. Most ordinary ninja and civilians wouldn't concern themselves with such things, and thus wouldn't recognize the Uzumaki name.

Still, Uzumaki blood was coursing through his veins. This was his heritage. Just yesterday, he didn't have anything, and now, he had not only parents, but a clan too!

Naruto paused. His clan was destroyed. He might be the only Uzumaki left.

The blond boy grimaced at the thought. It reminded him of a certain annoying bastard.

But maybe, just maybe, not all of his clansmen died in the assault of Uzushio. Maybe he had some family members scattered around in other nations. If his mother had managed to survive the purge, who was to say others didn't?

That theory made Naruto grin.

* * *

Naruto spent the rest of the day rapt in checking all the other things in the pile.

First, he examined the second article of clothing, which turned out to be the coat of the Yondaime. The boy's heart almost leaped out of his chest as he unfolded the white coat decorated with red flames and proudly written 'The Yondaime Hokage' on the back for everyone to see.

Naruto immediately decided that it was beyond cool and that he definitely should get something similar once he'd become a great ninja.

After an hour of trying out his dad's coat, parading around his apartment in it, and imitating the Hokage, the young Uzumaki-Namikaze was in a much better mood, and he delved into the pile of books, scrolls, and journals with great gusto.

Most of them were about seals. It didn't surprise Naruto, seeing that his mother came from the long line of Seal Masters, and his father had become the Seal Master himself.

Naruto had a lot of fun going through their personal journals of seal studies. Though they both had their own separate journals, soon it was clear that they often helped each other by scribbling tips, corrections or comments in between the original notes. He could easily distinguish the writings of his parents: Minato's writing was neat and meticulous whereas Kushina usually scrawled untidily with lots of loops and spirals in her penmanship. She also liked to doodle a lot. There were so many sketches in her journal! The drawing of what seemed to be the Yondaime in a frilly dress sent Naruto into mad laughing for a few minutes before he had run out of the air and had to stop to take a breather.

There were a few scrolls on chakra theory: its control, manipulation, shape and nature transformations, together with a methodology of ninjutsu creation. That all sounded so difficult, it made his head spin. The scrolls depicting the Yondaime's personally created ninjutsu took Naruto's breath away. It was way too advanced for him right now, but one day he could learn it and continue his father's legacy!

Giddy with excitement, the blond grabbed another scroll, unfurled it and peeked inside. Another seal. Slightly disappointed, he rolled the scroll up and got ready to put it aside, then suddenly he froze. Quickly spreading the scroll on his floor again, Naruto gazed at the seal with great interest. Although some parts seemed a bit different, it was definitely the same one that was placed on his stomach to keep the Kyuubi imprisoned.

Naruto skimmed through the text, stopping to read more attentively only when something caught his eye.

 _After the sealing is performed, the Shinigami will consume the summoner's soul and the soul of their target(s), ending their life. The souls of those trapped within the Shinigami's stomach cannot enter the Pure Land and are destined to fight with their victims for all eternity._

Naruto stared at that particular paragraph for a while, reading it over and over. Slowly, a horror gripped his mind, making his guts churn.

His father not only sacrificed his life, but his soul too, and now was trapped, unable to move on, and on top of that, he seemingly had been tortured!

Suddenly the air in the room became suffocating and the walls pressed on Naruto, so he stumbled to his feet and ran. He barely had the presence of mind to create a clone to keep everything safe as he rushed out of his apartment into the chilly night.

* * *

Sakura was striding along an empty Konoha's street with a particular spring in her steps. It was getting really late, but she didn't care. Seeing Sasuke training till the sun disappeared over the forest line was worth to get yelled at by her parents. Besides, she was a kunoichi now, dammit!

Her eyes landed on another lone person walking right in front of her, and the pinkette blinked in surprise, instantly recognizing that bright sunshine yellow mop. "Naruto?" the name was out of her mouth before Sakura's mind caught up and she instantly wanted to facepalm. She was not in a mood to deal with this loudmouth idiot right now!

Naruto halted in his stroll and turned around with a furrowed brow. Upon seeing her, he pursed his lips even more. "Sakura," he said after a moment.

Sakura did a double take to make sure it really was her knucklehead ex-classmate.

First, he seemed genuinely annoyed by her presence. Naruto simply didn't do 'annoyed' while interacting with other people. They might be on a mutual silent agreement to ignore each other most of the time after she violently refused his date invitation a year or so ago, but the blond was always happy with anyone who spared a moment to converse with him. And that happened quite rarely, because apparently, no one wanted to interact with the biggest idiot in the class, especially after their parents warned them to stay away from the boy.

Second, Naruto wasn't wearing his neon orange jumpsuit. Sakura couldn't even remember a day when he had put on different clothes, and she saw him almost every day in the Academy for the past four years. It was… strange to see him without that eyesore. He looked like a completely different person, especially with that kind of expression on his usually bright features.

And third, her blond peer had a ninja headband tied around his head. Sakura witnessed him failing the exam just yesterday with her own eyes and even heard some of the adults belittling him for that. Not like his failure came as a surprise, Naruto graded as one of the lowest students in their class. So, was he pretending to be a ninja when he clearly didn't have the right to be one?

"Why do you have a ninja headband, Naruto?" Sakura demanded. "Did you steal it from someone?"

The boy's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you know the rules and what the consequences are for impersonating Konoha's ninja better than anyone," he retorted. "Do you think I'm stupid enough to do that?" As the pinkette opened her mouth to respond, Naruto quickly added, "Don't answer that. I know what you all think about me… No, I didn't steal it."

Sakura was once again taken aback by an unusually snarky attitude of her ex-classmate. She absentmindedly wondered what happened that he was in such a bitter mood. "So, how did you get it?" she inquired, honestly curious now.

"One thing led to another." Naruto shrugged like it wasn't worth mentioning. "I guess you could call it a field promotion."

The girl waited for further explanation or loud bragging about his amazing achievements, but none had come. She stared at Naruto as though seeing him for the first time.

Now that she thought about it, the hyperactive blond always boasted about silly things, like a grand prank he'd managed to pull or amount of ramen he'd eaten in one sitting, but never about important stuff. Such as that one time in shuriken practice lesson: Naruto managed to get the second best score, beaten only by Sasuke. He merely grinned proudly at his class, but it was met with jealous glares and angry whispers of 'show-off' while teachers simply ignored his accomplishment. Next time, his accuracy was back to near non-existence, he was whining about it louder than usual and made his classmates laugh at his misery.

"What are you doing here so late, Sakura?"

Naruto's question jolted the pinkette out of her musings and she reacted to it with a confused, "Eh?" As the blond raised an eyebrow at that, Sakura gathered her scattered thoughts and smiled wistfully. "I was observing Sasu–" She was interrupted by a furious voice, coming from the nearby alley.

"You demon!"

Both kids turned to look at the elderly man, stumbling out into the street with a hate filled glare leveled on Naruto. He clenched a bottle of alcohol in one of his hands and used the other to lean on the corner of the house.

"Y-You murderer…! You killed her!" he hissed viciously, causing the small blond to flinch at his groundless accusation. The man took a swig from his bottle. "My Haruko… My beautiful child…" he wailed silently. He tried to wipe the tears with his free hand and almost fell down as he lost his support. "Why are you alive, demon?! How dare you be alive while my Haruko lay dead?! I hate you, murderer! You don't deserve to live, while my beautiful, innocent daughter lost her life because of you! Just die already!"

Sakura stared at the drunk with wide eyes, frozen in her spot. She was so shocked of this sudden barrage of malicious accusation directed to her idiotic ex-classmate that she didn't notice the man abruptly flinging the bottle at them before collapsing in a sobbing heap, still blabbering something unintelligible under his breath.

Naruto grabbed the dazed girl by her arm and tugged her to the side. The sloppily thrown bottle flew past the spot she'd been standing and smashed onto the ground behind them, the sound of breaking glass echoing sharply in the stillness of the night.

"Come on, Sakura-chan." Naruto tugged the pinkette gently one more time and then let his hand drop. "I'll walk you home."

Sakura trailed after him more as an automatic response than a deliberate one. An uncomfortable silence stretched between the two young ninja as they made their way through Konoha.

The girl peeked at the blond. She'd never seen him looking so sad. "Did you…?" she tried to ask, but couldn't finish the question, dreading the answer.

Naruto lifted his eyes from the ground to look at her, squinting in suspicion. "I what? Did I kill her? As if 'ttebayo!" he scoffed angrily. "Don't you think that if I did such a thing, I would have already been caught and punished?"

"But… then... that man…?"

The boy closed his eyes as he turned away from her, a deep frown crossing his face. "His daughter died twelve years ago in the Kyuubi's attack," he explained after a moment.

Sakura lowered her head, embarrassed that she took the drunk's words at its face value. "So, why–?"

"I was born that day," Naruto cut off her question, his voice strangely void of any emotion. "Some people think that it's enough to put blame on me."

The kunoichi couldn't wrap her mind around that piece of information, because it didn't make any sense, but she didn't really know what to say either, and so decided to stay silent. When they finally reached her house, Sakura heaved a sigh in relief. The palpable tension in the air was starting to get on her nerves. She would have never thought that Naruto, the idiotic loudmouth knucklehead, could make her nervous, but this unexpected change in his attitude really made her feel uneasy.

"Why did you become a kunoichi?"

Again, Naruto's unexpected inquiry startled Sakura, but as a subject of her affection popped in her head she smiled. "It's because of Sasuke-kun, of course," she replied proudly, and instantly her mind screeched to a halt, surprising even her. Was he really the only reason?

Apparently, Naruto came up with the same conclusion. "Really?" he asked, trying and failing not to sound disappointed. "Only for that bastard?"

Sakura's inner fangirl almost exploded in fury. "Don't call Sasuke-kun that!" she exclaimed. "As if a weakling like you can even compare with a great genius like Sasuke-kun!"

The blond boy opened his mouth to object, but promptly shut it again. "You're right. I am weak," he agreed wholeheartedly after a moment to Sakura's absolute bewilderment. He turned to the side, so that he could stare at the Hokage Mountain, his eyes immediately fixing on the Yondaime's stone head. "If I want to protect my few precious people, if I want to make them proud, if I want to reach him," Naruto lifted his hand towards the distant face of his father as he spoke, "and save him..." he curled his fingers into a tight fist, "I need to step up my game."

The sky blue eyes flashed with steely determination, his lips twisted into a fierce grin, and Naruto's whole demeanor suddenly changed, his decision resounding within his whole being.

"To continue their legacy, I'll become the ninja and the Seal Master this world has never seen before 'ttebayo!"

* * *

 _*_ _–_ _pendant is made from Fire Opal. It's a real, existing gemstone. My chosen color scheme is one of many possibilities._

 _Please, write a review before leaving! Thank you :)_


	2. Lost Guardian Angel

English is not my first language, **betareading done by** **AkatsukiLover465.**

* * *

 **When Fate Takes a Turn**

Chapter 2

 **Lost Guardian Angel**

* * *

 **-12 years ago, the third day after the Kyuubi's attack-  
-Hokage's Tower, an unused room on the ground floor-**

Kakashi felt numb. He just came back from the funeral where he bid the last goodbye to the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze and his lifetime partner Kushina Uzumaki, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. It was a simple and swift ceremony for the hero of Konoha, a bit more solemn than thousands of others going on for the second day in a row and still continuing further. After all, there were still a lot of people unaccounted for.

The young ninja knew that he should feel something: maybe a need to curl into a small ball and cry in despair till the end of time; maybe a desire to scream until his throat would become raw; or perhaps an all-consuming anger at the cruel fate that ripped everything and everyone away from him.

His father was gone, his teammates – Obito and Rin – were gone, Minato-sensei and Kushina-san were also gone forever. Kakashi had nobody left.

He felt empty. Like he was only a spectator to this horror show called Kakashi Hatake's life, like he had nothing to do with it, yet was stuck on watching it. Like if he closed his eyes, this nightmare would end and he'd wake up in a world where everyone was still alive and happy, where he wasn't all alone, where his every precious person wasn't cursed to die.

Kakashi shut his eyes for a brief moment and opened them again, holding his breath. However, the sight in front of him didn't change: the small room, bare of any furniture bar the lonely crib in the middle of it.

There was no Obito popping in with his stupid grin and exclamation of 'Surprise, Bakakashi!' because the boulders crushed his body and all that was left of him was a lone eye. (While Kakashi himself did not cry, his cheek under the Obito's eye was constantly wet from the moment he heard the news.)

There was no Rin smiling at him gently and patting his arm to calm him down because no one could survive a hole through their heart. (Kakashi was well and breathing as far as he could tell, even though he felt as if someone tore his own heart out and left him with a painful void in his chest.)

There was no Minato ruffling his hair in that annoying, yet affectionate manner because his body was already long since got cold and got buried. (In a fleeting moment, Kakashi thought that he'd prefer having a living sensei more than a dead hero, and instantly felt ashamed for Minato wouldn't agree.)

There was no Kushina grabbing him by his arm and dragging him to the market to shop for the dinner at their place, because the demon clawed its way out of her guts, extinguishing her very existence. (He never admitted how much he loved her homemade food, Kakashi noted absent-mindedly, and now he'd never have a chance to do so.)

They were his family. And his whole family was dead now, never again to be seen, or talked, or laughed, or trained, or...

And that thought finally shattered the remaining pieces of Kakashi's soul. Once the first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream, all the grief, loneliness, and despair swelling inside his chest, threatening to burst it open. The teenager clutched the frame of the crib until it left bruises on his palms, lowered his head and lost himself completely in his mourning.

Suddenly, before all that darkness could swallow Kakashi up, a clumsy slap over his knuckles snapped him out of it, and the ninja lifted his hunted gray eye and met the brilliant cerulean gaze that cut his breathing a little short.

A baby was staring at him with those wide innocent and so, so blue eyes, his tiny arms flailing around, searching to hold onto something. Without thinking, Kakashi carefully extended his own hand towards him. The newborn instantly latched onto his fingers and smiled at the teenager so wide and so bright, that it seemed to chase the encroaching shadows in the room.

"Naruto…" Kakashi whispered, sniffling as he wiped his running nose with a free hand, trying to rain in the storm of emotions within. "You're awake."

The baby squealed in delight as if overjoyed to be acknowledged, and the young ANBU couldn't stop the small smile curling on his lips. "You're awake," he repeated slowly. Suddenly he drew in a sharp breath, a comprehension dawning on him. "You're here."

* * *

" _Come out, Kakashi."_

 _The said boy grimaced under his ANBU mask and shifted uncomfortably in his hiding spot, but his gaze never wavered from a certain red-haired woman who was sitting on a porch bench overlooking the small patio garden._

" _I know you're hiding somewhere around, keeping an eye on me," Kushina spoke again. After a minute, she huffed in annoyance and suddenly grinned like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. "Don't make me search for you, Kakashi-kun."_

 _Kakashi shuddered involuntarily. The addition to his name sounded more like a threat than an affectionate affix. He heard a quiet snigger and turned sharply to glare at his fellow ANBU. He couldn't see it, but could feel the shit-eating grin plastered on the man's face when the latter mutely motioned towards the waiting Uzumaki._

" _Alright then... I'm counting till three, 'ttebane." Kushina dramatically folded her arms over her chest, pursed her lips and closed her eyes with her head held high. "One… Tw–"_

" _I'm here, Kushina-san," words tumbled out of Kakashi's mouth in a hurry as he appeared next to the woman. He pushed his ANBU mask to hang at the side of his head. It was against the code to reveal your identity to the third parties, but the Yondaime made an exception and allowed Kakashi to do this in front of his wife, saving them both from the torture of experiencing the infamous Uzumaki tantrum._

 _Another smile graced Kushina's features, this time a placid and a motherly one, as she patted a spot on the bench next to her. "I want to show you something," she said after Kakashi had sat down. She put her hands on her swollen belly, and her smile grew wider. "Naruto is really going for it," she chuckled. "Just touch it, you can feel it too."_

 _Kakashi suddenly looked like a deer caught in headlights. "N-no, no... That's, uh, that's alright."_

" _No need to be afraid, Kakashi," Kushina assured softly. She took the boy's right hand and laid it on top of her belly._

 _The stream of self-destructive thoughts (because that was the same hand that went through Rin's chest and sometimes Kakashi could still see the blood on it, regardless how hard he tried to wash it away, and the murderer's hands shouldn't even get close to such an innocent, pure, untainted things–) screeched to an abrupt halt as a faint kick from the inside of the womb hit his hand._

 _That was the most amazing and absolutely breathtaking feeling._

" _This one was strong…" Kushina mumbled, furrowing her brow in slight displeasure, but as soon as she noticed Kakashi's expression of utter awe and admiration, she completely cracked up. "You should see your face, Kakashi!" the redhead exclaimed gleefully between her fits of laughter. "You look so cute!"_

 _With a bit of red dusting his cheeks, the young ANBU spluttered in indignation, "Am not!"_

 _Uzumaki only laughed harder, causing him to blush even more. Good thing that most of it was hidden under his cloth mask._

" _Is it that fun to tease my elite ninja?" a new voice came from the doorway into the house and soon the Yondaime stepped onto the porch with an amused smirk on his face._

 _Kushina only snorted and opened her mouth to retort something, but all of a sudden her face twisted in discomfort and she cried out, "I swear to gods, Minato! Naruto is already practicing taijutsu in there, 'ttebane!"_

 _The blond chuckled as he approached his sitting wife, crouched down and tenderly caressed the belly. "You doing great, son," he murmured quietly in a tone full of mirth. "Just keep practicing."_

 _Kushina smacked Minato over the back of his head none too gently with an irritated, "Hmph!" The man laughed softly while rubbing a sore spot._

 _Kakashi observed the family in front of him, feeling like an intruder in their happy idyll. Sadness settled over him as he realized that once the child would arrive they wouldn't have time for him. He was damaged goods, after all, and nobody in his right mind would allow someone like him near their kid. That was alright though. The child of these amazing people deserved all the world's care and adoration. Naruto was lucky to be part of such a loving family._

 _Minato's hand landing on the top of his head caught the young ninja off guard. "Ready to be a big brother, Kakashi?" the Yondaime inquired cheerfully, ruffling the boy's silver hair._

 _A look of annoyance briefly flittered across Kakashi's face. Not that he minded the small affectionate action from his sensei, but he occasionally wondered why Minato opted to do that so often after Rin's death. He counted till three in his mind and got ready to swat the blond's hand (as much as he liked the warmth of it, he was not a child, dammit!) when the meaning of his sensei's words finally caught up with his brain. He froze and his eyes widened. "…What?" he asked in disbelief. "Big brother? Me?"_

 _Minato and Kushina seemed confused by his reaction. "Yes," the Yondaime confirmed. "Unless you don't want to, of course." He smirked proudly. "I'm pretty sure that our son will be quite a handful."_

" _No, it's just– I'm not– I thought you– That you will–"_

" _Kakashi," Minato called sternly, lowering a hand to rest on the teenager's shoulder. The latter's lone eye snapped to look at him, and the blond furrowed his brow at how frightened it appeared. "You know that we consider you part of our little family, right?"_

" _But…" Kakashi gulped nervously. "I'm not–"_

" _Oh, you silly boy!" Kushina grabbed him by his arm and pulled him into the tight hug. "You think that we're gonna leave you out?" Kakashi was stiff as a board in her embrace, and her heart broke for him. "Like Minato said, want it or not, you're part of our family now, and this family never abandons their own," she said softly, smiling as the boy started to relax. "I'm sure that Naruto will be proud to call you his niisan."_

* * *

Kakashi leaned on the crib's frame and gazed at baby Naruto for a while. His eyes were of the lighter shade of blue, but the silver-haired ANBU deduced that their color should deepen into the familiar azure with age. His few hair strands seemed to be blonde too, but he had a strange faint scarring on both of his cheeks that reminded of whisker markings – probably the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra while the infant was still in his Jinchuuriki mother's womb.

The baby giggled, kicking his legs restlessly. "That's right, Naruto, you keep practicing," the ninja approved with a small smile etched on his face. He slowly moved his hand around, watching in amusement how the kid appeared to be fascinated by it, but he still didn't let Kakashi's fingers go, gripping them tightly with his tiny palm.

"Just you and me, Naruto," Kakashi said quietly. "We're the only ones left, and this family never abandons their own." He poked the baby's belly causing him to squeal with joy again. "So you're stuck with me, little guy."

"I see you're still here, Kakashi."

The young ANBU almost jumped in surprise. He was so tired and so deeply boiling in the emotional turmoil that allowed someone to enter the room without his knowledge. The boy quickly swiveled around, unconsciously moving slightly to his left, so that he'd stand directly in front of Naruto and in a path of whoever came in if they turned out to be hostile.

"Sandaime-sama," Kakashi exhaled in relief, turning back to the crib where he could hear telltale sounds of starting baby wail.

Hiruzen Sarutobi let a small smile pass his lips at the protective gesture as it didn't go unnoticed by his keen eyes. He approached the crib, studying the young ninja.

Hatake was wearing his ANBU uniform with the mask hanging at the side of his head, fully geared up and ready to fulfill his duty – Konoha needed any able ninja in this hard time. But the expression the teen exhibited was nothing like a ninja committed to do his job. He seemed lost, without a purpose, as though the ground suddenly dropped from under his feet. And that was probably true.

"I heard people talking," Kakashi started with a careful undertone, "that Naruto is the Kyuubi itself, but… that's impossible, right?"

"Ah... I suspected that there was a leak of information about Naruto to the general populace," the newly reinstated Hokage sighed, suddenly looking so much older and wearer, crushed under the weight of responsibility of leading the village in this time. "He is definitely not the Kyuubi, but he contains it within himself. Minato… He sealed it in him to protect Konoha. Naruto is our new Jinchuuriki."

Kakashi whipped his head to stare at the Sandaime. "Then we need to tell that to the people!" he exclaimed, before glancing to the baby to see if his yelling had disturbed him. Naruto was contentedly gurgling while holding onto the older boy's fingers. The teen looked back at Hiruzen and hissed, "He is the child of Minato-sensei and Kushina-san! How can they say such things about their heroes' son? Naruto should also be hailed as one for holding the demon!"

"I agree, but there's nothing worse and more dangerous than a crowd with a wrong idea. I will speak to the people of Konoha and try to clear the misunderstanding, but I fear that it might be too late…" the Sandaime trailed off, watching Naruto with sad eyes. "We also cannot reveal his lineage."

Kakashi blinked. "What? Why not?"

"It may reach the ears of Minato's enemies. We might not be able to protect him, especially now when Konoha is weakened. That's why I have already decided to place him under his mother's maiden last name," Sarutobi stated with an authoritative finality. "It will be easier to protect an orphan Uzumaki than the son of the infamous Yellow Flash and the Yondaime Hokage."

The teen glared at the old man for a moment, but then deflated, the fight leaving him altogether. He knew that this was probably the right solution. The time was still unsettling after the war, the peace treaties – uneasy and unstable, and none of the former enemy nations fully trusted each other. Iwa-nins still bared their teeth at even the mention of the Konoha's Yellow Flash; they would gleefully try to assassinate or kidnap his orphaned son.

"I want to raise Naruto."

Whatever Sarutobi expected to hear, that was not it. "Raise Naruto?" he echoed in surprise.

"I'm supposed to be– They said that–" Kakashi frowned, trying to figure out how to word it. "I have only Naruto left… I need to keep him safe."

The Sandaime understood, he really did. The boy in front of him was on a brink of breaking irreparably. If he didn't latch onto something to ground him, he would either go insane or slit his own throat. The man hated to decline such an honorable wish, but there was no choice in a matter. "I'm sorry, Kakashi, but everyone knows that you are Minato's student, and such a young man suddenly adopting a baby would draw too much unwanted attention," he said. "Not to mention, that you are still a child yourself, you do not possess the knowledge of how to properly care for an infant."

In his long life, Hiruzen had seen many people losing their hope, but never so lost, so helpless, and so dejected as Kakashi after hearing his statement. As though the sky together with the sun and moon followed the ground from under his feet and tumbled into the bottomless pit to never be seen again.

The teenager turned at the now sleeping baby, and when he looked back there was a fierce fire blazing in his eyes. "In that case, I want to continue the last mission appointed by Minato-sen– by the Yondaime Hokage."

Startled by such an unexpected change of attitude, the old Hokage searched his mind of any information about what was the last mission Namikaze gave to Kakashi, but came up empty. "What kind of mission?" he inquired curiously.

"I was tasked to lead the ANBU team to guard Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze and her unborn child from anyone and anything that might have wanted to harm them. The primary subject might be gone now, but her child survived, and I wish to express my desire to continue the given task to guard and protect Naruto Uzumaki." Kakashi paused and then added a bit more uncertainly, "And once he'd become a genin, I want to be appointed as his sensei."

The Sandaime was pleasantly stunned because this ninja right here now had a purpose and was driven to achieve it at any cost. He smiled, feeling a concern over the young Jinchuuriki that was heavily weighing his shoulders being lifted. He couldn't find a better protector even if he tried. "Permission to continue your previous mission granted," he announced, and Kakashi gave a quick affirmative bow. "Guard him well, Dog."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the ANBU operative intoned, slipping his mask into its proper place.

* * *

 **-present time-  
** **-Hokage's Tower, Hokage's office-**

Hiruzen glared at the scroll, lying on his desk in front of him, willing to incinerate the offending string of words, written neatly at the very end.

 _Considering all the stated facts, the Ninja Psyche Value Committee does not recommend appointing Kakashi Hatake as one of the jounin sensei for a new genin team._

The Sandaime breathed out heavily and rubbed his forehead. The scowl made a permanent place on it from a few days back, from the night of Mizuki's betrayal.

And now this.

Sarutobi leaned against the back of his chair and fixed the silver-haired ninja, standing idly in front of his desk, with a hard stare. "Are you sure about this, Kakashi?" he asked. "Once another jounin will be appointed as Naruto's team sensei, there will be no coming back."

The man's dark gray eye wandered down from where it stared through the window to meet the eyes of the elderly Hokage, and he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

Hoping that that was a sign that Kakashi was reconsidering, the Hokage pushed, "You were talking about becoming the boy's sensei from the day he was born. It's the last chance to change your mind about this." He motioned at the scroll in a quick, rather disgusted jerk of his hand.

Kakashi shifted again, putting his hands into the pockets of his pants. He was a picture of calmness and aloofness, but Sarutobi always was proud of his observation skills – he wouldn't be a good ninja and a good leader if he couldn't read others – and thus a slight tremble of those gloved hands and well-hidden tension in the whole posture wasn't overlooked.

"I'm well aware of that, Hokage-sama," the Copy-nin said in a tired voice. "But those kids will be safer without me anywhere near them."

The Sandaime was quiet for a moment, mulling over what the ex-ANBU had said and struggling to understand the reasoning behind it. He narrowed his eyes. "Is this because of that unfortunate accident from four years ago?"

"That too," came an apathetic answer.

Hiruzen sighed. He was there to pick up the pieces after that incident, and so he knew that what Kakashi was feeling was far from apathy or indifference. "You know that Naruto does not hold any grudge for what happened?" he inquired softly.

Kakashi gave a rigid nod. "You told me that many times, Hokage-sama."

"He blames himself and thinks that you hate him."

"He's not the one to be blamed, I… I bring misfortune to those I consider family."

The Sandaime was taken aback by the jounin's pleading tone. He sounded desperate – desperate for his words to be accepted as a truth.

"Naruto will be safer without me."

"That boy misses you, Kakashi," Sarutobi insisted. "He keeps asking about you and I keep telling him that you are away on a long term mission. Though, I believe he suspects that I'm lying."

A twitch under the cloth mask betrayed a smile. "Naruto was always very observant."

"Incredibly so," the Sandaime agreed. "When he wants to," he added with a bit of thought. "It does not change the fact that he knows that I'm telling lies to him." The silver-haired man stiffened, but didn't lower his defiant gaze from his Kage. They stared at each other for a moment. "Alright, Kakashi," the older man finally conceded with a world weary sigh. "I cannot understand your reasoning, but I can respect it. Do not come to regret it," he cautioned. "You are dismissed."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," the ninja said quietly and dipped his head before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Hiruzen watched the wisps of smoke slowly hovering in the air until it vanished. He put a hand over his eyes and sat like that for a while. However, he had no time to wallow in his own sentiments.

"Minato, your boys will be the death of me…" he grumbled under his breath, throwing the offending scroll into the drawer and starting to flip through the list of available jounin. There were only three days left until team placements, and one team just lost their potential sensei.

The Hokage had his work cut out for him.

* * *

Kakashi dragged his feet through the village towards his apartment. The Hokage's words ' _Do not come to regret it._ ' circled his mind in an endless loop. He was already regretting his decision, even though he believed it being the right one. The incident four years ago cemented his belief that he was cursed, that he destroyed everything he touched. He couldn't put the only person he still considered his family to danger. That bright ball of sunshine was worth so much more than this life had given him.

The jounin could still remember that night when the mob of civilians cornered the four years old boy and assaulted him. He could still feel that overwhelming fury coursing through his veins because of their actions and stupidity. Kakashi would have slaughtered them all, if not for a terrified child who watched everything unfolding in front of him with those wide, innocent, and, oh, so blue eyes. So, he had to take solace in the execution of mob's leaders after Naruto was safely tucked in for the night.

Kakashi could still recall how Naruto reacted to a simple hair ruffle – the kid stared at him like he hung the moon and the stars, like it was the first time someone touched him without malice. And maybe it was, making it so wrong and so unfair because the child of Minato and Kushina deserved to be loved and adored, not shunned, glared, and hated.

There was only so much the lone ANBU could do. Whilst he could swiftly get rid of any spy and enemy ninja intending to harm the small Uzumaki before they even came into contact with him, he was powerless to shield Naruto from all the glares and whispers. Kakashi himself once experienced such treatment, although it was only for a brief time and a glare here, a whisper there, never at the scale of the whole village.

But he tried, by gods, Kakashi tried. Every harsh action against the blond was returned tenfold. There weren't many civilians, especially among vendors and shop owners, who hadn't been on the receiving end of the staggering KI coming from Naruto's protector hidden in the shadows. People even gave him a name – the Demon's Guard Dog. And, somehow, Kakashi was completely okay with that title.

But then, his curse finally caught up with him as he ran a blade through the chest of the person he swore to defend at any cost.

It didn't matter that it was an accident – Naruto jumping in front of his blade, trying to stop his Dog-nii from attacking a person whom he'd considered a friend. A person who actually was an enemy ninja with the sole purpose to abduct Konoha's Jinchuuriki. It wasn't even that hard. She used a few honeyed words and that worked miracles on a child deprived of attention and love that others took for granted.

The familiar phantom feeling of something wet, and warm, and slick on his hands made Kakashi's breath hitch in his throat. He didn't dare to look down at them as he knew what he would see – blood. The blood of Obito, the blood of Rin, sometimes even the blood of Minato and Kushina, but mostly the blood of Naruto. The image of the small blond boy impaled by his own tanto, and so, so much blood everywhere, haunted the silver-haired ninja's dreams and thoughts for four years now.

Kakashi immediately took to the roofs, hoping to avoid the civilian traffic, and sped towards his apartment. He more stumbled than entered inside in a rush, making a beeline to the bathroom and, more precisely, the sink. Like all the previous times, he scraped his hands raw – but the sensation of red thick liquid dripping through his fingers didn't want to leave that easily.

After a while, it dulled out to the manageable level. Kakashi exited the bathroom and went straight to the small terrarium sitting on his desk. "Hey, Fuwa," he greeted the tarantula that had its front legs sticking out of the little coconut house.

The jounin pulled a small scroll from one of his vest's many pockets, unfurled it and with one simple hand flick sent a sliver of chakra into a storage array inscribed on it. A small glass container puffed into existence, a cricket inside. "I brought you dinner," he said, dropping the insect into the terrarium. He smiled at the spider that instantly moved towards the poor, unsuspecting thing with a predatory grace. "Enjoy your meal."

Kakashi watched Fuwa for a few more moments before turning to leave again. A memorial stone beckoned him to come, and he desperately needed to talk to someone. And who were better listeners than the dead?

* * *

 **-three days later-**

Naruto entered the classroom, nose buried in a book, completely oblivious to his surroundings. Not even yelling and loud arguing suddenly coming from right behind him attracted his attention from his reading.

Two girls squeezed through the door at the same time and stumbled inside. Before they could crash into their classmate's back, the blond immediately stepped aside.

"I'm the one who's gonna sit with Sasuke-kun!" Ino proclaimed, wildly flailing her arms around.

Not lifting his gaze from his book, Naruto ducked under one of her appendages as he passed the kunoichi, avoiding an embarrassing slap in his face. "That makes no sense…" the boy mumbled, furrowing his brow before his expression brightened up. "Scratch that, it makes a complete sense…" he kept murmuring to himself at the same time smoothly sidestepping a stray elbow from Sakura when he rounded the girls to reach the stairs between the aisles.

"Okay, that was pretty cool! Where did you learn to do that, Naruto?!"

Someone yelling out his name finally got a reaction from the orange-cladded genin. He lifted his head and blinked only now noticing how almost every person was staring at him. A confused "Eh?" left his mouth before suddenly Sakura collided with Naruto when Ino pushed her.

Trying to regain his balance, the boy flailed his arms like a giant chicken attempting to fly causing the class to roar into laughter. The book slipped from his grasp, and Naruto's eyes widened, panic instantaneously twisting his gut into a painful knot. This was one of the mom's books, the textbook on the basics of Sealing Techniques taught in Uzushiogakure. He couldn't damage it, not to mention – lose it. The blond reached for it without thinking… and promptly tumbled down the stairs with a yelp.

Sasuke snatched the book from mid-air, as it sailed straight above his head, flipped it over and looked at the title. His eyebrows drew together like he tried to solve a riddle. Whatever he expected, the book about sealing wasn't it.

"Ah! Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed. "I'm sorry! You okay?"

The Jinchuuriki groaned, already pulling himself into sitting position, rubbing a sore spot on his back. "Yeah!" he replied, slapping a fake grin on. "I'm gonna live!"

"Why are you even worried about that idiot, Forehead?" Ino commented flippantly.

Sakura scowled at her. "Because it was my fault he fell, Ino-pig."

Naruto massaged the painful spot for the last time and got ready to stand up, then a hand entered his line of sight. His gaze followed it up to the face of its owner and with a small genuine smile, he accepted the offer for help. "Thanks, Hinata," he said once he was upright again.

The lavender-eyed girl smiled shyly. "You sure you're alright, Naruto-kun?" she inquired softly.

"Yeah," he repeated while looking around. "Did you see where my book fell?"

"I have it."

Naruto turned to look at the speaker. Sitting in his usual spot at the window, Sasuke watched the blond intently, his onyx eyes drilling into his blue ones. The Jinchuuriki's gaze flickered to the book in the raven's hand and he frowned. It didn't seem that the boy was willing to give it back.

They were could have been called friends once. With some prompting from Weasel-nii and seeing that the small raven appeared as lonely as Naruto felt, the blond approached the other boy during the launch break in the Ninja Academy. Of course, that was before the older Uchiha heir went crazy and slaughtered his whole clan leaving Sasuke as a sole survivor and before Dog-nii and Weasel-nii – the two most precious people for Naruto and his only constant companions – left and never came back. Wallowing in their own misery, they drifted apart and never reconnected.

"What are you doing here, dobe?" the last Uchiha asked in a neutral tone, his expression blank. "You failed the graduation exam."

The class tuned in their conversation. Others were wondering the same thing, but the usually clumsy blond's extraordinary dodging skills made them temporarily forget about it.

"He said it was a field promotion," Sakura chimed in gleefully. She shot a smug glance at Ino – she knew the answer to her crush's question while the other girl didn't – and got a disgruntled look back.

The new genins started whispering among themselves until Kiba suddenly out-voiced them all with a loud and brash, "Bullshit!"

"I was sick during the exam. Once I got cleared out of the hospital, I retook it and passed," the lie rolled easily off of Naruto's tongue. "So, now you know." He extended his hand towards the raven. "Can I get my book back?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his dead-last ex-classmate, regarding him with suspicion.

"Hey, hey, Uchiha!" one of the boys called him from the other side of the classroom. "Let's have some fun with the loser! Pass that book here!"

Naruto tensed, but lowered neither his steely gaze nor his hand. The two new genins stared at each other for a moment.

"Like I'd do something that childish," Sasuke said coolly and then put the book into the waiting palm of the dobe.

Fangirls squealed in the delight of coolness of their idol. The bully muttered, "Tch, spoilsport…" and settled down.

Naruto beamed at his former friend, his wide grin up in all its megawatt glaring glory. "Thanks, Sasuke!"

"Hn." The raven turned away to stare through the window again as stoic and collected as ever, and the blond slid into an empty seat next to Hinata on the opposite aisle.

"I'm glad that you got your book back, Naruto-kun," the dark-haired girl said quietly. When Naruto nodded, she added, "I'm also happy that you successfully graduated."

Another grin spread on the blond's features. "We're finally ninjas, Hinata!" he exclaimed excitedly.

The girl giggled, an amusement dancing in her pale eyes. "Your niisans must be very proud of you."

Naruto's smile faltered. "Yeah… If they were here," he pouted, stretching his arms over the desk and plopping down on them, opening his book again.

* * *

 _Almost seven years old Naruto kicked the small stone and sighed. He was bored. So, so bored. There was only that many games and that much time a child could play by himself until he lost his interest and had to find something else to occupy himself._

 _A brilliant idea hit the young Uzumaki and he rushed forward through the park with a new plan in his mind._

 _He would go into the village, find a spot where he could see a stream of people flowing by and observe them. People watching, Dog-nii called this game as he showed how to play it, and Naruto took a fancy to it. The rules were easy – just watch people going about their way, see what they were up to, guess or simply make stories of what they were doing and why._

 _Naruto was getting better at it with each day, noticing more and more details and subtle hints. After all, with everyone avoiding him, he had a lot of free time to practice. Of course, he was still the beginner and couldn't even hold a candle to Dog – the man could read the person like an open book, perceiving the most inconspicuous things and making the boy go wide eyed every time as well as admire his big brother figure even more than he already did._

 _Or maybe his niisan just had the wildest imagination to ever exist, Naruto was not sure._

 _The small blond was almost at the edge of the park, then suddenly he heard several voices laughing. He skidded to a halt and pricked up his ears. He could hear a quiet crying too. With his curiosity piqued, Naruto followed the sounds. Hiding behind the tree, he peeked into the small clearing._

 _There was a girl about his age with short dark hair kneeling on the ground, surrounded by three older boys. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry!" she muttered an apology after an apology, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks and dropping on the soil, but her tormentors only laughed cruelly._

" _Hey, quit it!" Naruto yelled as he jumped from behind the tree and faced the three bullies._

 _The boys looked up at him and frowned in confusion._

" _And who might you be?"_

" _Oh, hey," one of them elbowed his friend. "He's_ _ **that**_ _! The good-for-nothing who everybody hates!"_

" _Oh, that!"_

" _Yeah, that."_

 _Naruto gritted his teeth. "I'm not that or it, 'ttebayo! The name of this brave ninja is Naruto Uzumaki!" he announced, jabbing a thumb at his chest. "Better remember it because one day I'm gonna be your Hokage!"_

 _The older boys stared at him before bursting into laughter. "Hokage? You?"_

" _What an idiot!"_

" _A brat like you can't even become a ninja!" sneered one, winding his arm for a punch._

 _Uzumaki saw it coming and therefore successfully ducked it, backpedaling a few steps. His lips twitched into a smug smirk. "You wanna fight, you're gonna get it. Don't go crying after– huh?" The blond trailed off in surprise as the three bullies suddenly paled, their eyes bugged out and their jaws dropped open. A split second later, they all fled the clearing like a devil itself was on their heels. The boy scratched his cheek, completely puzzled by their strange behavior, but then grinned. "Run, cowards!" he exclaimed after them even though not even their shadows could be seen any longer. "You better remember my name, 'ttebayo!"_

 _Naruto turned to the girl who was still on the ground. "Hey, you alright?" he asked. He frowned as she didn't reply, instead just kept staring at him. No, not him, behind him. He looked over his shoulder and blinked at the sight of two masked ninjas standing there._

 _The taller one waved two fingers at him, letting out a cheerful, "Yo!"_

" _Aaaaah! Dog-nii! Weasel-nii!" the small blond screeched, pointing an accusing finger at the two. "That was you! You messed up everything!"_

" _Messed up everything?" Dog echoed while the other ANBU cocked his head slightly to the side with a quiet and perplexed, "Weasel… nii?"_

" _Yeah! I wanted to save the princess on my own!" Naruto stated loudly, oblivious of the girl who turned beet red at his words. "Like that brave ninja in the book Weasel-nii gave me to practice my reading! And you messed it up!"_

" _Hahaha," Dog laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry, sorry."_

 _The blond huffed, folding his arms in front of him and shifting his glare at the second ninja._

 _A pregnant pause. "…My apologies, Uzumaki-kun."_

 _The boy seemed to think, humming dramatically. "I'll forgive you!" he declared. "That's because it's you and… andyou'retheonlyfriendsIhave…" Naruto breathed out jumbled words, a hue of red spreading throughout his whiskered cheeks. "But Weasel-nii must start calling me by my name, 'ttebayo!"_

" _Maa, lucky us," Dog slapped a hand over his comrade's shoulder blade, "that little Naruto is so forgiving."_

 _Another moment of intense silence ticked by. "…Naruto-kun."_

 _Naruto grinned brightly, his embarrassment already forgotten. He wasn't completely satisfied, but his name with an affix was an improvement over his last name with an affix. With that settled, he turned back to the girl. "Hey, you alright?" he asked again, taking in her flushed face with a scowl. "You don't look too good. You hurt somewhere?"_

 _Dog chuckled and instantly got a death glare from Naruto, which would have been rather intimidating if it wasn't coming from the six years old kid, but the ninja put his hands up in a mock surrender nonetheless._

" _I-I'm f-fine," stuttered the girl. "Thank you." She gave a small bow, then faced the ANBU operatives and made a deeper one. "Th-thank you."_

 _A grin threatened to split the blond's face in two then he exclaimed, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to meet you!"_

" _Hinata Hyuuga… N-Nice to meet you, too."_

" _So, what those jerks wanted?" Naruto questioned. "Why did they attack you?"_

" _I… I don't know," the girl replied quietly, tears starting to roll down her cheeks anew. "I'm weak, and everyone expecting of me to be an excellent ninja, a-and I'm trying, b-but– it's just– I can't–" She was hiccupping from her crying, her slender form shaking uncontrollably. It's seemed that once she started talking, the dam burst open and all her grievance won against her control of emotions as she started to ramble non-stop._

 _Naruto grew anxious with every passing second, hovering nearby uncertain how to react. He never had to comfort anyone. In most cases when he was upset, especially after waking up from a nightmare, Dog-nii would be there, ruffling his hair and speaking softly things that made him feel better._

 _The boy reached for those dark bangs and gave a quick, awkward ruffle. Big, dewy eyes of pale lavender color snapped up to gawk at him in shock._

" _You might be weak now, but you can get stronger," the blond started. "Like Weasel-nii said to me: nobody's gotta learn, everybody's born knowing!" He frowned at his own words. "No, wait, that's not it."_

 _Dog sniggered while Weasel sighed. "It's the opposite, Naruto-kun."_

" _Eh?"_

" _The saying. It's the opposite. Everybody's gotta learn, nobody's born knowing."_

" _Well, whatever," Naruto brushed it off like a speck of dirt from his clothes. "What I want to say is that you need to give your all, 'ttebayo! And if that's not enough, try harder! And if that's still not enough, then even harder than that!" He whipped his fist forward, his mouth stretching into a lopsided grin as he gazed at the girl, the blue eyes like two crystal clear pools shining with conviction. "But never give up."_

 _Hinata stared at the boy, taking his every word into her heart and feeling something shifting inside her. Maybe, if she could muster that kind of confidence, perhaps she could do it. Tentatively, she lifted her own fist, bumped it into Naruto's, and whispered, "Never give up." The words felt foreign on her tongue, but she liked the sound of them. A small, shy smile appeared on her lips._

 _After a few silent moments, seeing that the girl calmed down, Naruto inquired, "So, you're ninja too? Are you joining the Academy this year?"_

" _Y-Yes."_

" _Hey, me too!" Naruto beamed. "We can be ninjas together!"_

 _Hinata opened her mouth, but a new voice cut her answer, "Hinata-sama!"_

 _Naruto's good mood instantly flittered away. Wearily watching an approaching unfamiliar adult, the boy retreated back until he was standing right next to Dog._

" _Hinata-sama, are you alright?" the man asked, crouching down and quickly sweeping over the girl's body with his eyes, looking for any kind of injuries._

" _Yes."_

 _The man stood up and nodded to two ANBU. "Please, accept my gratitude for keeping Hinata-sama safe, ANBU-san," he said politely. When he glanced at the small blond boy, his expression hardened into a cold stony façade. "But, please, make sure that…_ _ **the boy**_ _stays away from her."_

 _Dog felt a tug on his pants. A glimpse down revealed Naruto gripping it with a guarded and broken expression that shouldn't really belong on the face so young. The ninja looked back at the Hyuuga. "Hm? You said something?" he inquired nonchalantly._

 _The man stiffened, unsure how to take that kind of behavior from one of the Konoha's elite._

" _Did he say something?" Dog asked his partner. "I might have misheard him."_

" _He said that he's grateful for Naruto-kun for protecting the heiress of the Hyuuga clan," Weasel deadpanned in his usually stoic and collected tone._

" _Aha! Always thought that your ears are better than mine," the taller ninja stated. "You heard that, Naruto?" He ruffled the boy's blond mop. "You're a good kid. Right, Hyuuga-san?"_

 _The man didn't reply, his face not betraying any kind of emotion. After an intense stare down between pale eyes and hidden eyes of the ANBU, the Hyuuga scowled, took the girl's hand and dragged her away without saying a word._

 _Naruto watched them go. Once they were out of his sight, he looked up and stared at one white mask, then at another. "Why don't you hate me?" he asked in a small voice. "Other grown-ups seem to hate me. Except you, Jiji and the people at the ramen stand. Why?"_

 _Children often asked questions of why, but this? No one should be forced to even think about someone hating them, definitely not six years old kids. Six years olds should be happy-go-lucky, selfish brats, shielded from any form of hate; they should get worried only about bruised knees and petty squabbles between themselves, not to wonder why only a handful of people didn't hate their guts._

 _Dog squatted down to be at the same level as the boy and was silent for a moment. "Because you're special, Naruto," he said quietly. "Nobody else just noticed it yet."_

 _A frown worked its way between the blond's eyebrows. "Is being special a good thing?"_

" _Of course."_

" _You remind me of someone," Weasel chimed in suddenly._

 _Naruto's frown deepened as he glanced up at the second man. "Someone precious?"_

" _Without a doubt."_

 _The corner of the boy's mouth twitched up. As Dog stood, he ruffled his hair again. The smile widened into a content grin, such a stunningly genuine and an unbelievably vulnerable curve._

" _Hey, Weasel," Dog called, pulling out a scroll and offering it to the other ninja. "Can you drop this to the Hokage?"_

 _Weasel took the scroll with a clipped, "Understood."_

" _Eeeeeh? You're leaving already, Weasel-nii? But I haven't seen you for a few days!" Naruto whined, reversing to the lively six years old he really was. "You promised to tell me your adventures before you left, 'ttebayo!"_

 _The ninja waved him over and as soon as the small blond came into his arm's reach, he poked his forehead. "Maybe some other time, Naruto-kun."_

 _Naruto pouted, rubbing the offended spot and glaring at the man through his bangs._

" _You two are really similar," Weasel muttered, amusement easily distinguished in his voice. "Captain," he nodded to the taller ANBU, then spun on his heel and leaped into the tree._

" _So, Naruto, what you were doing before you'd jumped in bravely to save the princess from those evil adversaries?" Dog asked cheerily._

" _People watching."_

" _Oh? Have you been practicing?"_

" _You bet, Dog-nii!" A smug grin cracked up, brightening the boy's whole face up. "One day, I'm gonna be better than you, 'ttebayo!"_

 _The ninja chuckled. "One day, squirt, but not today. Now, come," he said as he grabbed the kid and threw him on his shoulders, ready to take off. "I'll show you a new good spot for people watching."_

* * *

"Hey, Naruto."

The blond turned around to look at Choji with a raised eyebrow.

The chubby boy's hand with a potato chip stopped near his mouth and he asked, "How did you do that?"

Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion. "Did what? Fell down the stairs?"

"The dodging."

"The dodging?" The orange-cladded genin was even more confused. "What dodging? What are you talking about?"

Hinata giggled while Choji stared at him like trying to decide if he was telling the truth, making fun of him, or avoiding the topic on purpose.

Shikamaru, who was sprawled on his desk and napping, lifted his head and leaned it against his arm as if it was too heavy to hold without support. His half-lidded eyes observed the blond sitting one row lower with startling sharpness. "Well…" he drawled in a lazy slur. "I'm more interested in how did you truly pass the exam, Naruto."

The blond's expression blanked out. "Me not passing the exam on the first try…" A smirk graced his lips. "Let's just say that was my last-ditch effort to secure the bottom position on the student list. I won, Nara."

The apple-haired boy scowled, but to keep it was asking for too much energy, so Shikamaru let it go and closed his eyes. "Troublesome…" he muttered.

Choji's jaw dropped. "You two competed for the last position?" he asked in disbelief, even his chips forgotten.

Shikamaru clicked his tongue, yet didn't comment. Naruto gave a one shoulder shrug, but also said nothing, neither confirming nor denying the stated fact.

One of Nara's eye fluttered open into a slit as he heard his orange loving peer flipping through the pages of his book. "What are you reading?" he inquired after a moment.

"The basics of Sealing Techniques."

The second eye opened, indicating Shikamaru's curiosity piqued. "Finally found where to use that brain of yours?" he asked with a hint of amusement.

Before Naruto could reply anything, Ino butted in with a scoff, "What brain? I'm pretty sure there is nothing in that skull of his. The idiot stays idiot no matter what!"

Naruto turned towards her. "Hm? You said something?" he asked nonchalantly, perfectly channeling his inner Dog-nii's persona.

The heir of Yamanaka's cheeks heated up when the class burst into laughter. "You!" she roared. "You're gonna pay!" The blonde jumped from her spot, ready to pounce on the smug looking Uzumaki, but then the door opened and Iruka walked in.

"Alright, kids, settled down!" he yelled out, sternly glaring each student down before they all sat in places and shut up. Iruka's gaze softened and he smiled. "I just want to tell you how proud I am of all of you. Beginning today, you're all real ninjas–"

Naruto buried his nose into the book again during the teacher's speech and put it down only then he heard Iruka announcing his name.

"Next, team Seven under the jounin sensei Jiro Yoshida: Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki. Next, team Eight under–"

The Jinchuuriki glanced at his new teammates, but none of them were paying any attention to him. Sakura was still cheering for being put on the same team as Sasuke, and the latter was glaring at nothing in particular.

Naruto sighed, continuing his reading. He wished that this team would work out. Dog-nii had always insisted that teamwork was a key to a success, and Weasel-nii had emphasized the importance of friendship too.

Naruto glanced at his team once more time, and a quiet sigh escaped his mouth again. He guessed that all would depend on their jounin sensei and the way he would handle their team. He hoped their teacher would be a good man and an amazing ninja. Just like Dog.

Naruto spent the lunch break in the classroom, absorbing as much information as he could from the book. He decided to ask Jiji about the parts he didn't fully understand later, and maybe to pester him about Dog's and Weasel's whereabouts one more time. The old Hokage told him the truth about his parents, perhaps now he would be more willing to talk about his big brother figures too.

When the break ended, all the prospective genins returned to the classroom to wait for their team's sensei.

They didn't have to wait for long. Soon, an unfamiliar ninja, a tough looking, well-muscled middle-aged man with black hair and sharp brown eyes, entered the room, a wide grin plastered on his face. "Team Seven?" he asked as his gaze wandered the rows of the aisles. "My name's Jiro Yoshida, your jounin sensei."

Naruto had to suppress a scowl when his new sensei's eyes briefly stopped on him. Something was off with this guy. His grin sent the already familiar warning alarm throughout the boy's mind for as bright as it was, the friendliness was certainly faked, hiding something behind. That something wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't good either. Mizuki gave the same vibe. The Jinchuuriki ignored it, and look what happened.

Naruto couldn't and wouldn't ignore his gut feeling this time – his new sensei was not to be trusted.

* * *

 **A/N**

I can already see the negative reviews flying my way because of so many flashbacks in this chapter, but I'm actually very happy and satisfied with it. Although, I haven't planned Kakashi to gobble up almost the whole chapter, he simply grabbed the plot and ran away with it. He even dragged Itachi in :D Buuuut, as I'm still world-building, you needed to know what he is up to, what kind of relationship he has with Naruto, why and how it is like that. So, now you know. Also, who doesn't like some good ol' Kakashi's angst, right? Right.

Pretty sure no one has expected the twist of Kakashi not being the Team Seven's sensei. Ha! Many more twists are still waiting eagerly to be revealed, so fav, follow, and review! ;)


	3. Hardening One's Resolve

**Not betaed. Looking for permanent Betareader!** PM if you want to help me with my Naruto stories.

* * *

 **When Fate Takes a Turn**

Chapter 3

 **Hardening One's Resolve**

* * *

"Temporary sensei?" Naruto and Sakura asked in unison, their bewildered voices echoing across an empty training ground as they blinked owlishly up at their team's sensei Jiro Yoshida. Their team's temporary sensei. Usually stoic Sasuke also had a puzzled frown etched between his eyebrows.

Temporary sensei. Was that a thing?

"That's right!" the man replied cheerfully, a wide grin plastered on his tanned face. "I'll be supervising your training for a while until your real sensei returns."

Apparently, that was a thing.

That confused the young ninjas to a greater extent. To the point where even the Uchiha couldn't hold himself from commenting, "Never heard of such a thing."

Jiro laughed. "It's quite an unprecedented case, so no surprise that you've never heard of it. The jounin who had been assigned to the team Seven sensei's position at first refused on the last minute," he explained sincerely. As he spoke his gaze flicked to Naruto briefly, but moved away before anyone could react to it. "And the next suitable candidate is on the important mission and can't be recalled back at the current moment."

Dog-nii taught Naruto how to read people from the young age and he became quite good at it, so he did notice the man's meaningful glance. He pursed his lips at the implication. The Kyuubi. His status as the Jinchuuriki must be the reason why that first jounin had declined to take up the job. _Good riddance_ , the blond scoffed in his mind. Probably the same truth applied to the reason why not everyone could supervise their team and the Hokage needed to find a suitable person.

Naruto stared at Jiro, feeling a tiny bit of respect attach itself to this adult. Maybe he was wrong about this guy. His smile was still fake, but perhaps he judged him too soon. The blond was a master of fictitious expressions, weaving a web of deception over himself in his strong desire for an acknowledgment and to lessen the negativity directed at him. He was familiar with the comfort such illusion could bring more than anyone else. Fake didn't necessarily mean bad.

This man agreed to be team Seven's sensei despite the presence of the Kyuubi's container. That should mean something, right?

Similar thoughts circled around the boy's head, however, his guard never went down, unconsciously maintained as high and stable as ever.

"So," Jiro clapped his hands to draw back the flittering attention of the three genins, "we'll see each other every day for the next month or so. Let's be friends!"

Sasuke tsked under his breath, his face wrapped in a displeased scowl. Sakura seemed still out of it, her fangirl's mind stuck on the news that someone actually refused to teach the genius like her crush.

And Naruto pushed all his inner misgivings to the side. He felt pumped by the prospect of getting stronger and consequently moving closer to the new goal that he set to himself – saving his father's soul. "When are we going to start, sensei?" he asked, blue eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Tomorrow," the man answered. "Today is only an introductory day. Although tomorrow all fresh graduates should go through an additional test, this team is the only exception. Your test will be delayed until your permanent sensei comes back."

"Test?" the pinkette piped in, baffled. "What kind of test?"

Jiro grinned. "That's a secret," he said teasingly. Seeing three disgruntled faces, he laughed. "Meet me here tomorrow at eight in the morning. That will be it for today!" Without any further explanation, he shunshined away, leaving newly minted genins alone in the empty training ground.

Naruto scratched his cheek. This whole situation seemed kind of fishy if you asked him. However, he decided not to dwell on it. There were more important things to do right now. Like start bonding with his team! He had waited this moment for so long: becoming a real ninja, being assign to his own team, and growing stronger together.

For as long as Naruto could remember, Dog-nii encouraged the idea of teamwork. People watching always yielded better results when they played it together. There was no doubt in his mind that joining the forces one could make something they alone would never be able to.

The boy turned to his teammates, teammates who were already leaving. "Hey, guys, wait!" he shouted, rushing after them. "Wanna go get some ramen together?"

Sasuke didn't reply. His stony façade didn't even twitch nor did his steady stride slow down, giving no indication that he had heard the blond at all.

Sakura halted her steps and spun around to face Naruto with a fierce glower. "Why would we want to go anywhere with you?" she asked curtly.

Naruto came to a stop in front of her, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "We're one team now, Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed with a grin bright enough to power generators.

The anger and something else – something vaguely like contempt – filtered across the girl's features. "You lied to me."

The blond blinked. "Huh?"

"You said that you became a genin through a field promotion," Sakura reminded him, green eyes alight with resentment. "I was a fool to believe you."

Oh. He did lie, Naruto thought. Just not to her, but to the rest of the class. It was easier like this; no one would have trusted his words anyway and he really, _really_ couldn't afford damaging or losing any of his parents' books. They were all he had.

"You're annoying, Naruto," the pinkette bit out finally. Not caring about the boy's reaction to her hurtful words, she immediately skipped after their black-haired teammate with a joyful, "Wait for me, Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto watched the two go in a dejected silence. Was this supposed to be this hard? He heaved a sigh and looked at the sky, taking solace in the vast infinite blue. Gradually, he collected the accumulated hurt piece by piece and then shoved it into the darkest corner of his psyche; locked it away out of sight and out of mind, allowing himself an illusion of thriving in its absence.

The story of his life. But, honestly, Naruto was starting to run out of corners to stuff all these packages of ugly feelings that threatened to drag him down into a place where he had never wanted to go.

* * *

The Sandaime didn't lift his head from the document he was perusing when the door knock resounded across his empty office. "Come in," he invited absent-mindedly, knitting his eyebrows at something on the paper.

The door opened and a couple of people shuffled in. "Hiruzen," a male voice called out.

The Hokage glanced up, meeting solemn stares of his former teammates, and his frown deepened. Their expressions didn't promise anything pleasant. Despite his misgivings, Hiruzen offered a cordial acknowledgment, "Homura. Koharu."

"We heard that you changed the jounin sensei, appointed to supervise the team Seven," Koharu started without beating around the bush.

Homura nodded. "Yoshida is an experienced ninja, but he is not suitable to handle neither the Jinchuuriki nor the Uchiha boy."

The Sandaime put the document on the desk and leaned back, smothering the urge to massage his temples for an incoming headache. "I'm well aware of that," he informed in a noncommittal tone. "Yoshida is a temporary solution until Tenzo returns from his current mission. I cannot keep prospective genins without any guidance for this extended period of time."

"Tenzo is a good choice than it comes to the Kyuubi's container, but what about Sasuke Uchiha?" Homura inquired. "The boy needs someone to train his Sharingan."

The elderly Sarutobi's eyes flashed. He really didn't appreciate his friends calling Naruto everything but by his name. "Once Sasuke awakens his Sharingan, I shall ask Kakashi Hatake to take him under his wing."

"Kakashi Hatake is in the village right now," the old lady noted. "He is familiar with the seal that holds the fox and also possesses the Sharingan. In the initial team roster, he was named as team Seven's sensei and his résumé is exceptional."

"We know about Ninja Psyche Value Committee's judgment and we advise to overlook it in favor of this particular case."

Hiruzen's eyes hardened. "Kakashi refused the position," he revealed with a heavy heart. He never wanted to disclose this fact, but his old teammates turned out to be more informed than he'd have given them credit. "I cannot force the jounin to take up the team. It could end up being disastrously counterproductive."

Both advisors made a wry face.

"If there is nothing else, that will be it," the Sandaime dismissed them with a hand wave and, indicating the end of their conversation, he immediately picked up the document that he'd been reading before the interruption.

Homura and Koharu stood stiffly there for a few more moments, then dipped their heads and with muttered, "Hokage-sama," left the room.

Hiruzen looked up again when the door closed with a soft click and slumped in his seat tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

There was another reason why he enacted such an unprecedented decision – to give Kakashi time to change his mind about teaching Naruto and becoming a constant part of his life. Assigning the temporary sensei was a gamble that could bring more harm than good in the end, he knew that, yet still sheltered faith in this choice. Naruto… No, both Minato's boys endured enough to be denied the interaction with the only person who considered themselves their family. That was why he'd always supported Kakashi's connection with the little Jinchuuriki as the latter grew up. They deserved something positive in their lives and were definitely worth the trouble on his part.

"One month, Kakashi," the wizened Hokage uttered under his breath. "One month is all I can offer you."

* * *

"Kiku-san!"

The Hokage's secretary grimaced at the almost deafening yelling from the end of the hallway, the echo bouncing around the empty space. She shot a withering look at the orange-clad genin bounded towards her.

Stopping in front of the secretary's desk and noticing her dark expression, Naruto winced. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Ne, Kiku-san, is Hokage-jiji free now?"

Kiku pursed her lips disapprovingly. "It's Hokage- _sama_ , Naruto," she scolded patiently. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

The blond beamed at the woman, throwing her into a state of slight confusion. It baffled her every time seeing him this happy to be reprimanded. Sometimes it even seemed like the boy was doing it on purpose.

"So, can I go in?"

Kiku let out a soft sigh, her shoulders relaxed, and she gave in, just as always. "Hokage-sama is taking a break," she said. "You can find him on the roof."

"Thanks, Kiku-san!" Naruto exclaimed, already on the move. Before he rounded the corner, he flashed her one of his wide, sunny grins over his shoulder. "Next time, I'm gonna bring you something to cheer you up, 'ttebayo!"

The secretary stared blankly at the spot where he vanished. She actually was feeling down lately because of her growing distant with her husband, but she thought that she hid it well. Not even her best friend noticed anything amiss. Kiku wouldn't have been surprised if some elite ninja picked up on it – some of them could read a person like an open book – but Naruto was a fresh Academy graduate.

What a strange child.

Kiku shook her head with a small smile perched on her lips and returned to her work.

* * *

Naruto hopped over the last few stair steps and stepped onto the roof, full of vigor. As strange as it was, Kiku's admonition put him into a good mood again. In instances like these, he could almost envision being a normal kid.

With his hands cupped behind his back, the Sandaime stood on the other side of the roof, gazing out at the village, stretching almost all the way to the faraway horizon. His white and red robes fluttered in a breeze and his back looked unexpectedly broad and awe-inspiring against the bustling Konoha's panorama.

"Hello, Naruto," the old man greeted without turning around.

Soft words snapped the blond out of an unexpected trance and he approached, laughing awkwardly. "It seems that I can't sneak up on you, Jiji. Not fair, 'ttebayo!"

Hiruzen glanced down at the genin on his right and smiled. "A good ninja always has a few tricks up his sleeve, my boy," he advised amiably. "To protect himself and people around him."

"Should I keep those tricks a secret then?"

"Not quite. Your team should know. You do not need to go out of your way to explain everything, but a team can become a well-oiled machine with every cog fitting perfectly only when every member fully know each other and share a bond of explicit trust," the Sandaime explained, pleased by that fact that he had an undivided attention of the eager young ninja as the latter listened intently, his cerulean eyes sharp and focused. "Individuals possess diverse talents, weaknesses, communication skills, strengths, and habits. We have the capacity to grow and learn on our own, but the true success lies in our ability to cooperate with others and create close-knit relationships based on fellowship, trust, support, and respect. It motivates us to work harder, allows us to expand our skill sets, and teaches us to be a better person."

Naruto absorbed this small guidance like a dry sponge.

"How did your team's first meeting go, Naruto?"

"Yeaaaaah, about that..." The boy scrunched his face as if he tasted something very sour and muttered bitterly, "My team may take a while, Jiji."

"Unfortunate, though not entirely surprising," the Hokage sighed, his eyes shifting back to gaze upon Konoha. "You all are still so young. Only after going through hardships together you can forge bonds of trust and loyalty. Don't give up, Naruto." Hiruzen patted the Jinchuuriki over his shoulder in encouragement. "You're observant and are able to notice things that others would miss. Such skills come with age and experience, but Dog taught you well and you learned well. It will be of great help to you. I believe that you have what is required to become the key to bringing the team Seven together."

Warmth flooded Naruto's heart. Full acknowledgment. At this very moment, he felt acknowledged by the most revered person in the whole village. Better yet: it wasn't because of who he was, not of his heritage or his burden, but his own hard earned skills.

The admiration he had for his lost big brother figure also increased. Without the latter's existence in his life, Naruto didn't know what would have become of that abused, lonely, and shunned little orphan that was his past self.

"Ne, ne, Jiji," the blond was suddenly bursting with explosive energy, simply vibrating in excitement, "is Dog-nii back from his mission already?"

There was a subtle shift in the aged face of the Sandaime as he replied, "No."

Boundless hope soared in Naruto's chest. Such an immense emotion overwhelmed him and he completely missed the very faint stiffness in the man's voice. He took a breath and asked a question that had been burning at the back of his mind from the moment he had heard about the whole temporary sensei business, "Can it be that Dog-nii is the real sensei of my team?"

Hiruzen was saddened by the boy's obvious longing to see the man. "It's a different jounin," he said quietly and watched as, before his eyes, Naruto wilted, as his grin vanished without a trace, as something in his eyes simply _died_. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

Unexpectedly, the blond laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Ah, all's good, Jiji. 'Twas a simple question."

The Sandaime observed his happy expression with a heavy heart. His _fake_ happy expression that was so realistic, so well-crafted that even he would have never guessed anything was wrong had he not seen the sudden shift himself. He wondered who Naruto tried to convince more that everything was alright – others or himself.

"Naruto."

The blond's attention was back on the old man.

"I know now might not be the best time to tell you this…" the elderly Hokage trailed off, seemingly hesitant. He decided to push on. "From tomorrow onwards you will start your ninja career, thus you need to be aware of the dangers and responsibilities that come with being the Jinchuuriki."

Naruto's eyes widened. It took him a minute to shove all the emotional baggage to yet another corner and gather his wits, but he did it with practiced ease. He couldn't really change who he was, no matter how hard he'd wished for it, no matter how much he'd whined about it. He needed to know what exactly it meant.

Naruto nodded, ready to listen.

"First, I'll tell you more about the Bijuu in general and for that, we need to go back at the time before Konoha's establishment…"

* * *

Brilliant hues of orange, crimson, and violet coated the wide expanse of the sky as shadows began to cloud it, signaling the fast approach of the night.

Wrapped in a weary melancholy, Naruto sat on top of the Yondaime's stone head, thoughtfully watching the village preparing for the end of the day, listening to its distant hustle and bustle, smelling the faint fragrance of spices and roasted meat in the occasional gust of wind. He had been in this spot from the moment the Sandaime told him everything that he'd thought was important. The boy retreated then to ponder on it in solitude.

All Bijuu were overwhelmingly powerful creatures, titanic entities of pure chakra, and the Kyuubi was the strongest of them all, reputedly able to raise tsunamis and flatten mountains with just a single swipe of a tail. And he was just a simple kid that supposed to keep such a terrifying force of nature locked away. The Kyuubi was dangerous and the status of its host consequently made _him_ dangerous too.

After reflecting on their attitude towards him, Naruto could finally say that he fully understood the people of Konoha. They hated and ignored him because they feared him. They would be insane not to.

Nevertheless, this newly found understanding couldn't vanquish all the pain and grievance that they had inflicted upon him. In the end, he was still a kid. A lone child who had the beast equivalent to a natural disaster sealed inside him.

Naruto groaned, ruffling his own hair. His mind kept running in circles until he had lost the track of the main issue completely. He honestly didn't know what he should think or feel, so he settled on the most obvious choice – to go with the flow and leave it for the future.

The news that all three Kyuubi's Jinchuurikis were Uzumakis caught the blond by surprise. Other clans granted their children bloodline limits or cool jutsus as hereditary gifts, yet he received the mountain-sized demon fox stuck in his guts.

Naruto chuckled at that particular thought. At that exact moment, his stomach grumbled, reminding him of the fact that he didn't eat for pretty much the whole day. The timing brought fresh peals of laughter at the image of miniature Kyuubi growling inside his belly, demanding to be fed.

When his guffaw calmed down, he continued to stare out into the world, sky blue eyes deep and brimming with emotions. There was a pride under the liberating feeling of _knowing_ , dejection bleeding away into resolve, a glimmer of valor to face what was to come, and tenacity to endure no matter what.

At this point, Naruto's path was set. His parents left the responsibility to look after the Kyuubi to him, so he would do everything to live up to their trust. "Just watch over me, dad, mom," he whispered into the wind. "I'll definitely make you proud, 'ttebayo." His upset stomach growled again and he hunched with his arms around it. "Urgh, but first I gotta get something to eat. Ramen would be good…"

* * *

Jiro-sensei wasn't bad, Naruto concluded after a week. Truly, he wasn't. He couldn't see any signs of prejudice against him or feel any resentment in the man. He simply didn't care. At all. About him or Sakura. That was the catch.

Their day would usually start with Jiro giving some generic tips and bits of advice, nothing too specific or fitting for their personal fighting styles. And then he would give all of his attention and focus to Sasuke until the morning training time ended and they would have either D-ranked mission or more training.

Talk about favoritism.

At first, Naruto tried to ask him to teach at least _something_ and always got the same reply, "Just a moment, Naruto, and I'll be there with you." He never came though, so after the third time, the blond stopped asking altogether. Thank goodness that this jackass wasn't their true sensei. He had to live through this month and hope that the next guy would be more reasonable.

Even Sakura grew unsatisfied by such a neglectful treatment. Naruto caught her sometimes making a face at being dismissed so obviously. She was naturally quite a testy person, but this turned her even more peevish and bad-tempered.

And who knew what Sasuke was thinking, safely hidden behind that marble-like, cool, and detached face of his.

But such an offhand approach deepened the already existing rift between the three genins and Naruto could only helplessly watch as they drifted further and further away from their initial starting point.

He still tried–

"Hey, Sakura, Sasuke, do you want to go eat together as the team? My treat, 'ttebayo!"

"No! The answer will be the same no matter how many times you'll ask! Idiot!"

"Hn."

–and tried–

"Ne, bastard, wanna spar?"

"…I have no interest in weaklings. Loser."

–and tried, for all it was worth–

"I was thinking that maybe we could–"

"Aaaargh! Don't even speak with me, Naruto! I'm so fed up with you!"

–and failed every time.

Naruto was ready to bang his head to the nearest tree. His persistence wasn't working. Definitely not. But as he stared at the backs of his supposed teammates, strolling out of the training ground without as much as a glance back, he couldn't muster enough strength to lift his arms much less to bang his head.

After two other genins left his sight, the boy inhaled and then exhaled, pushing all the air out of his lungs. At the same time, he picked up all the pieces inside him and glued them all together again into a brittle, messy, hollow object, a mocking caricature of the heart. Somehow, such a routine thing to do became harder and harder to pull off lately.

A sudden sequence of random noises from a nearby tree interrupted his depressive thought process that was quickly spiraling out of control. Naruto turned towards the source, alert. For a moment everything was quiet. Then something rustled high up in the tree, concealed behind the foliage, and a loud, aggressive shriek followed soon after. There was a flash of white among the many boughs before that something suddenly fell down.

Curiosity piqued, Naruto approached the tree carefully and peeked over the small bush to the spot under it. He saw a bird, an owl to be precise.

This golden-eyed, black-beaked owl was rather large in size, had thick plumage, heavily feathered taloned feet, and was nearly bleach-white in color with darker barring on its body and wings. But its most noticeable feature was a red tiara-like pattern on its forehead with edges curling around the outer sides of its eyes.

Currently, the bird struggled to stand up, flaring and flailing its wings whenever it lost its balance. Naruto furrowed his brow. Something was very wrong with it. Perhaps the fall injured the poor creature?

The preteen stepped closer.

The owl froze for a brief second before beginning to beat its wings recklessly, sharp talons burying itself deep into the soil as it exhausted its strength in an effort to rise from the ground.

"Easy there, big girl," Naruto spoke in a soothing tone. "I'm not going to hurt you." He glanced at those deadly-looking claws, considering the best way to subdue this fierce bird of prey so that he could bring it to the vet clinic for a check-up. An idea popped in his head and he immediately reached for his jacket's zipper to take it off.

That was then a snake dropped right on his head.

Naruto let out a surprised yelp and instinctively flung the serpent away into the high grass. "Shit!" he cursed, putting his hand over his wildly thumping heart. "That scared me, 'ttebayo!" A realization hit him like a ton of bricks as his wide eyes snapped back towards the owl that appeared to be visibly running out of energy, laying there with its chest heaving. "Have you been bitten by that snake?" the blond asked, quickly shaking his jacket off. "You're definitely going to the vet with me, want it or not!"

Naruto threw his clothing on top of the injured bird, wrapped it quickly around wings so that it wouldn't hurt itself during its panic attack, and took off with the precious cargo in his arms.

* * *

"…How about Kohaku*?"

"Hooooo!"

"Kohaku is such a pretty name! And you're one pretty bird! Even if you're not a girl as I'd first thought."

Still wrapped in Naruto's jacket and sitting comfortably on one of his arms, the owl glared up at his rescuer. Literally. His expressive golden eyes narrowed and the boy could feel his talons curling and pricking his skin straight through the clothing.

It was evening already. Naruto spent all this time in the vet clinic after antidote was administrated to assure that the snake's poison hadn't left any damage to the owl's body during the time he took to get him there. Now, the streets were relatively empty, allowing them to stroll at a relaxed pace without getting glared at too excessively.

"You're a very picky bird, aren't you?" the genin grumbled absent-mindedly, his mind busy on the current task to find a suitable name for his feathered friend. "Hey, how about Raiden*? Sounds so cool!"

The bird clacked his beak and puffed his feathers. His classic owl-shape was utterly lost in that exaggerated ruffling, giving him the look of an over-stuffed child's toy.

Naruto laughed at his unmistakable indignation. He couldn't figure out why the bird would dislike that name. It was badass! "Mmm… Maybe something as simple as Shiro*?" he tried again.

An unimpressed look his latest suggestion received was quite straightforward. Naruto sighed, feeling exasperated. At this point, he was ready to give up and simply leave the bird nameless. Not like he would stay for long. Hana-san said that a couple of days of good rest would be enough for this snowy owl to fully recover.

"Oh, wait. I know!" the blond suddenly yelled, his mouth stretching into a wide, bright grin. "Yuki*! What do you think?"

The owl blinked slowly.

"What? No comments this time?" the young ninja quipped. "Yuki it is, then!" He continued walking forward in high spirits. "Maybe you can become my lucky charm**, Yuki," he said, offering newly named owl a gentle scratch between his eyes which was accepted with a pleased hoot.

"Naruto!"

Naruto halted and turned towards the call. Instantly, his face lit up. "Iruka-sensei!" he exclaimed happily as he waved at his favorite academy teacher with one hand.

Iruka jogged to him, a fond smile perched on his lips. "Hm?" He blinked at the white bird in his arms. "An owl?"

"We've just decided on the name," the boy stated proudly. "Iruka-sensei, this is Yuki! Yuki, this is Iruka-sensei, the best sensei in the world!"

"Hoo!"

The chuunin chuckled, scratching the back of his head, embarrassed and flattered at the same time. He cleared his throat and asked, "Why are you carrying the owl?"

"He got bitten by the snake. Luckily, I was nearby and brought him to the clinic on time. The vet said that he'll be fine after a few days of rest, so I volunteered to look after him."

Iruka was certainly impressed though not surprised. It wasn't the first animal that his exuberant student rescued. "Good job, Naruto," he gave a wholehearted praise and the young blond beamed at him. "How about I treat you to ramen to celebrate another life saved?"

Naruto's eyes sparkled. "Really, sensei?" When he got an affirmative nod, he almost jumped into the air. "Yatta!"

Yuki's feathers fluffed up again, irritated by his current guardian's sudden erratic movements. He nipped his arm.

"Ouch!" Naruto yelped. Then he sent a dirty look at the bird. "Is this how you repay your savor, 'ttebayo?"

"Hoooo!"

"…Why do I suddenly feel insulted?"

"Hoo! Hoo!"

Iruka observed the boy and the owl bickering, amusement written all over his face. "You two seem similar," he teased.

"What?! No way, sensei!" the blond protested. "Me and this silly bird– Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Quit pinching me, Yuki! Or I'm gonna drop you, 'ttebayo! I'm serious! Hey!"

This time, the chuunin couldn't hold in his laughter. Naruto's threat didn't rouse a single drop of uneasiness; the boy would never do anything to hurt someone he took under his protection on purpose. His heart always had been in the right place, which, considering his upbringing, was truly amazing and deserved respect and admiration.

"Ouch! Argh, that's it, Yuki! No ramen for you, 'ttebayo!"

* * *

"Teuchi-san! Ayame-neesan!"

The ramen chef and his daughter glanced up to see their favorite blond customer grinning at them in greeting as he lifted the banner and entered the establishment, his Academy teacher following suit.

"Good evening, Naruto, Iruka-san," the old man greeted them in kind. "Miso ramen as always, Naruto?"

"Yep!" the boy replied eagerly, settling on the stool and placing Yuki on the table next to him.

Surprisingly, Teuchi didn't even bat an eye at the bird as if it was a common occurrence for Naruto to bring strays with him. Instead, he turned towards the chuunin and inquired, "The same as always too?"

Iruka sat down and smiled politely. "Yeah, thank you."

Ayame, however, was charmed by the owl. "Waaah, so cute!" she gushed. "Its eyes are beautiful! Such a stunning shade of gold!"

Yuki preened under her praises, much to Naruto's chagrin. "He's not cute at all," he mumbled. "Silly bird, 'tteba–" He snatched his arm back when the owl tried to nip him again, then stuck his tongue at him before bursting into a mad cackle.

Yuki puffed his feathers and that brought another bout of gushing from the only woman present.

The genin pouted. The smug look the owl sent his way kinda ticked him off. "Cheater…" he hissed after a moment.

Iruka chuckled. "Don't get bested by the bird, Naruto," he said, a teasing note in his voice unmistakable. "You're our future Hokage, right?"

Naruto looked at his sensei. There was no sign of excitement or joy on his face, his eyebrows were knitted together and lips pulled into a thin line as he rolled that statement around in his head.

Becoming the Hokage was a dream he had for as long as he could remember. First, he wished to be seen, to be acknowledged, because even if he had a few people who genuinely cared about him, the hate and disregard from everyone else were killing him. As he grew up, this dream became his crutch to push himself forward, his buoy to stay afloat with all the negativity threatening to drown him, and his anchor to the reality.

The Sandaime-jiji told Naruto that if the Kyuubi would ever break from the seal, he would die. If he let it out, he would die. If someone extracted the fox, he would die. The Bijuu was part of him now. He had no choice but to embrace that notion. Now he knew exactly who he was and why he was hated. That caused to look at the situation from the different perspective. Did he still want to become the Hokage? Maybe. Were Jinchuurikis even allowed to become Kages?

The Shodai Hokage, Hashirama Senju, subdued the Bijuu and distributed the beasts amongst the new villages in order to stabilize the balance of power between them. Jinchuurikis were valuable assets to their respective village's ninja forces. What the Sandaime didn't tell him outright was that Bijuu hosts were war repellents. In some sense, they were weapons.

That sudden conclusion disturbed Naruto to his very core. His existence as the Jinchuuriki was essential to Konoha's survival. If he was killed, the Kyuubi would revive some years later, but Konoha would lose their Bijuu while other villages would still have theirs. Wouldn't that mean that the village would do anything to keep him safe and protected when it really mattered? That they would try to hinder his growth by not assigning him missions where he could be harmed?

But Jiji would never do that to him, right?

At the same time, wouldn't becoming the Hokage compel him to go against his own wishes? To stay behind in the village and be protected by others?

Naruto didn't desire to sit behind his comrades' backs and be protected. He wanted to be the shield for those around him, to fight beside them, spill blood together, and forge those bonds Jiji had been talking about.

Not to mention that the hateful third party from his birthday was still somewhere out where; the unknown who attacked and killed his mother, who drove his father into a corner and forced him to use his own soul as a sacrifice, and who might still covet the Kyuubi that he had been entrusted to guard. The unknown whose actions ripped everything from him and essentially turned him into the live weapon – into the Jinchuuriki.

Naruto's resolve rose to new heights. He had to grow strong. Stronger than anyone else. Stronger than the Hokage himself.

"Your miso ramen, Naruto."

The blond finally shifted his gaze away from his sensei and grinned at Teuchi, as bright and powerful as ever. "Thanks!"

"Iruka-san, here's yours."

"Oh, uh… thank you," the chuunin stammered a bit, gawking at the bowl of hot meal absent-mindedly, his mind clouded by confusion. It threw him for a loop – the way his student reacted to his words, the way he stared at him in tense silence, the way his sky blue eyes darkened and his face hardened.

Iruka had never seen Naruto like this and didn't have the slightest inkling of what kind of ideas were taking roots under that sunshine-colored mop. The fact that the open acknowledgment of his dream didn't bring the desired reaction scared him. The man glanced at the blond, plagued by uncertainty. What was that about?

"Aaaaah! Yuki! I said no ramen for you, 'ttebayo!"

"Hoooo!"

"Shoo! Go away!"

"Naruto, don't bully the poor creature."

"B-but, Ayame-neesan~!" Naruto whined. He pointed an accusing finger at the bird and deadpanned, "He started it."

"Hooo?!"

Observing as the boy initiated another bicker with his bird – this time for the bowl of ramen of all things – and not noticing any more abnormalities in his behavior, Iruka relaxed and turned back to his own food.

He was definitely overthinking. Right?

* * *

* - Kohaku: Japanese 琥珀 (kohaku) meaning "amber"; Raiden: Japanese 雷 (rai) meaning "thunder" and 電 (den) meaning "lightning"; Shiro: Japanese 白 (shiro) meaning "white" or 城 (shiro) meaning "castle"; Yuki: Japanese 幸 (yuki) meaning "happiness" or 雪 (yuki) meaning "snow".

** – Japanese name for owl, Fukuro フクロウ (梟), which can be written in different sets of characters: One with the meaning of luck (福 fuku, luck; 来ku, to come; 郎 ro suffix used in boys' names), and the other as protection from hardship (不 fu, no, 苦労 kurou suffering/hardship).

* * *

 **A/N**

Not the most exciting chapter, more like filler really, but this is necessary to build a very strong foundation for the development of Naruto's character in this AU. It's also a bit shorter than my previous two chapters, but I thought this was a good place to stop. Next chapter will have more exposition on Sakura and Sasuke.

All in all, these chapters are just the calm before the storm :)


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